2012
by angelofjoy
Summary: With the year 2012 nearly over, and Mulder and Scully living in relative seclusion waiting for the judgement day, a young woman lands in Scully's hospital exibiting strange symptoms and throwing Mulder and Scully's son back into their lives. Contains Smut
1. Unnatural Night

Chapter 1: Unnatural Night

The night was still, a little too still to be comfortable and beautiful. It had an eeriness that screamed foreboding, but only those who wanted to believe and who had seen the unthinkable would see this night as such. No sounds filled the night. No clouds passed over the bright moon, and yet to anyone else it would have been a beautifully, peaceful night. The stars were like thousands of childlike eyes, twinkling down from a black velvet sky. Even the small subtleties of nature seemed to be absent, making the night unfamiliar and out of this world.

Abigail Ventallo sat in her car, in the dark, staring at the sky and wondering when the rest of the world would see what she could see, or imagine what she had imagined. She was a quiet young woman but she worked very hard, feeling that she had more to prove than most. She believed she knew how to make her own way in a man's world but there were aspects of her own life that were unbelievable to most. She needed to prove to herself that there was a reason to believe and that reason had been around for hundreds of years.

On the seat beside her was a stack of file folders, photographs, news paper clipping, journal articles and loose sheets of paper, some with drawings on them, some with writing on them and many of them stained with coffee and other unknown substances. Her camera rested on the top of the seemingly miss matched stack. It was like a world of questions rode in her passenger seat. Everything that she believed defined her was in that pile, and yet she paid it little attention at that moment. It wasn't what she was looking for, but it was what she was sure she had already found.

The silent stillness was more intriguing at this particular moment in her life. The high stress, high impact of her career forced her as far away from the lights and the sounds of the city as she could get. How much death and blood could one young soul take? The day had been particularly hard on her. She had watched as weeks of surveillance crumbled to the impatience of her superiors and as such she watched, tears rolling down her cheeks, as the innocent were killed and the children cried. Now she saw the promise that those eyes once had held in the stars high above her.

A tap on the window startled her out of her trance like state. In mere moments her world of questions was dashed onto the floor and a man took the seat beside her.

"Abby, do you ever actually go home?" he asked as the silence in the car grew between them, "I somehow knew I would find you out here."

"I didn't even see you pull up," Abby said distractedly.

"I'm not surprised," He said with a sarcastic laugh, "you only see what you are looking for and the rest of the world passes you by."

"And you notice everything," Abby stated.

"I have to, or I would never find you among the mysteries and secret hiding places you have established for yourself," he said with a tone of discontent.

"You checked my office first, I assume Will, before you came all the way out here," she stated.

"Well yeah, you never seem to leave there either," he said, "you'll always be in one of two places. The office or this field, never anywhere else; unless you are at home, and then something is really wrong," he added. "You have always been really good at leaving your breadcrumb trail."

"I have my office and my car and the wide open spaces I long for. Why would I want to be at home?" she asked. "And if I really didn't want to be found, I have ways of disappearing."

"Oh don't I know it," Will sighed. "Why, for once, can't you just be like everyone else? Go home, take a bath, read a book or watch a romcom. Why can't you just look for comfort and security?" he asked with a laugh, "or at least some down time and rest, you look like crap!"

"That is what I have worked for," she said seriously. "And if I look like crap, then I won't get looked at by the perverts and sexually frustrated chauvinist pigs that fill my department."

"Work is your comfort and your rest? I find that hard to believe," he said, "after what happened today, I don't think you will be finding much comfort in being at work. You were so pissed."

"You're right," she said with a sigh, "I had to get away. I couldn't stay in the city after that."

"I understand. Maybe you should take some time off and get away for a while," he said as he tried to look at her through the darkness.

"I can't," she said with a sigh, "my work is never done."

"Who are you, superman?" he asked and rolled his eyes. The silence fell between them again.

"What have you come up with?" she asked after a long time of staring blankly out the window.

"I really don't know what you want me to find," he answered, "so I don't think I have found anything."

"Well you would have had to have found something or you wouldn't have had any reason to come out here," she said.

"Maybe I was worried about you. Maybe we have worked together long enough now that I have started to care about you," he said, and then added, "There is a solid case against him," he said handing her a folder, "but there are a few loop holes you could try and exploit."

"Alright, and what are they?" she asked.

"Absolute and irrefutable prove," he answered.

"Oh," she said.

"I don't think you really understand just how impossible this seems," he said as he grabbed her arm, "you have to prove everything that he lost his job and reputation over were relevant. Everything the government and military has covered up to get him under control. Do you understand what I am telling you? You have to step into his shoes and the consequence of that will be that they will silence you too, if you get too close."

"But you believe that the truth is out there and that I can prove it, right?" she asked as she shifted in her seat.

"I can't say that a lot of what is in those files isn't proof enough, but it wasn't enough then and it won't be enough now. At least not to stand up in a military court," he said.

Once again a long silence fell between them. Finally Abigail opened her door and stepped out into the still blackness of the night.

"Where are you going?" Will asked.

"For a walk," she answered with a sigh.

"Abigail, I know you don't want to hear this but you have to let this go. You need to find a life and make it for yourself. Stop. Just stop searching for little green men," he said as he rushed after her.

"Will, look, I have a life and I don't want you to feel like I am bringing you down with me. You can walk away any time you want. I just can't give up when I know I am so close," she said.

"You just feel like you have something to prove and no one else matters," he said angrily.

"Maybe I do," she yelled into the silent night.

Suddenly the ground began to shake and the sky lit up in a burning flash.

"What is going on?" Will yelled and drew his own weapon, aiming it at nothing and everything around him.

"This is the proof I am looking for!" Abigail yelled over the thundering wind that rushed all around them.


	2. Found

Chapter 2: Found

White in contrast to black can be blinding and warm. It is comfort and peace. A white light, like a fire, spreads to expel the darkness. It was like a new day or the welcoming of life itself. Then the noise came, soft at first then spreading like the static of a television station or the radio when the signal is lost. Then came the voices, the beeping of monitors and finally came the visions and everything that has been happening started to make sense.

"I really don't know what to tell you, and under most circumstances I shouldn't be saying anything," a woman's voice could be heard as the white, warming, light began to fade.

"But you have seen this before?" a familiar male voice broke the bright void.

"Yes," the woman said, "and it is a real miracle that she lived," she said.

Abigail opened her eyes to the bright white room and the equipment of a hospital, something she was not a stranger to and before her stood a man, tall, proud, and authoritative. He was familiar and kind as he sat down on the edge of her bed and pushed her hair out of her eyes.

"Abigail, do you know where you are?" he asked her.

"No, sir," she answered weekly, "where is William?" she asked.

"He is at home. He brought you here. He is safe," the man answered, "do you remember where you were?" he asked.

"I was watching the sky, in a field by my home, it is a piece of the property of my family estate," she answered.

The woman continued to stand in the room. Who was she? She was short, serious, clad in a crisp white lab coat- she must be the doctor, Abigail thought. Abigail got the impression that this doctor holds some place of authority and accomplishment, although she couldn't quite put her finger on why she thought this. Maybe it was the doctor's way of standing with a quiet confidence, and powerful presence as she spoke to the man who minutes earlier had been questioning Abigail. Abigail listened as intently as she could while trying to remain discreet, and all the while, the doctor watched Abigail with a strange look on her face, then she lowered her voice, shifting uneasily when she noticed Abigail continued to listen to her conversation. There was something oddly familiar Abigail thought, about this doctor, and she continued to stare.

"It is on a rural root, twenty minutes north of the city," Abigail continued a minute later in answer to the man's previous question. "A quiet spot I always go to for the same reason. This had never happened before," Abigail said as she began to feel dizzy.

"Abigail you are very weak. I think you should rest before you over exert yourself with trying to explain what has happened," the doctor said more to the man than to the patient.

"Who are you?" Abigail asked as she watched the doctor, "you aren't my regular physician."

"No, you were brought to this hospital by Agent William Blake. We've been trying to get in contact with your physician," the doctor said.

"Don't worry," the man said watching the change in Abigail's composure, "Doctor Scully is a brilliant physician. You can trust her." Dr. Scully- Dr. Dana Scully, Abigail thought. Suddenly it dawned on her why this woman had seemed so familiar: she had seen a photo of Scully and Mulder, and this guy- she couldn't remember his name from the caption- was in the photo too, but Abigail knew that this was the one and only Dr. Dana Scully, assigned to debunk the mysteries of the X-files that had so fascinated her partner, Special Agent Fox Mulder. That is, until Dana could no longer rationally explain everything she'd seen over the years, and began to believe as Mulder did, to the point where they'd both become an embarrassment and liability to the Bureau, and a threat to national security (according to the government, of course). Abigail was snapped back to reality when she realized Scully was now speaking.

"Walter tells me you are a rather special case," Scully smiled, a knowing smile.

"Why is that?" Abigail questioned, sinking back into her pillow.

"Don't you recognize me?" Skinner asked shooting a concerned glance at Scully who promptly took the penlight from her breast pocket and checked the girl's papillary reflexes.

"She should be fine," Scully responded, "her reflexes are good, and her chart shows that she's perfectly healthy despite what she was exposed to." Scully remarked as she perused the chart.

"Dad!" Abigail finally realized reaching out to hug him, although she still felt somewhat confused and disoriented. "Wait," she said, "What happened to me?"

"We're not to sure," Scully responded, "but it was dangerous…" Abigail continued for Scully.

"Yes."

"I'm fine?"

"Apart from slight amnesia, yes," Scully agreed. "According to you chart you are healthy, what you were exposed to was very serious and yet you were not affected as seriously as you should have been."

"What would the X-Files have told you in this case, Doctor Scully?" Abigail asked rather presumptuously.

"I can't speculate on that," Scully answered and raised an eyebrow to the young woman.

"Then perhaps Agent Mulder would. I'd like to speak to him. I've wanted to pick his brain for many years now," Abigail said as a silence fell over the room.

"What do you know about Mulder?" Scully asked as she glanced nervously from Walter to the woman and back again.

"I've been unofficially studying the X-files since Agent Dogget moved into violent crimes and the files were hidden away again," Abigail stated. "I am an agent with the FBI."

"Who is assigned to a different department!" Skinner stated in a scolding tone as he looked at the woman in the bed.

"No one cares about those files anymore," Abigail stated argumentatively.

"Someone does," Scully stated, "or you wouldn't be where you are right now."

"You think this is because of the files?" Abigail questioned mockingly, "I'm sorry Doctor Scully, if you really knew what was going on in the world today, you would know that what is in those files is nothing compared to the truth that is out there," she said and pointed out the window.

Scully looked at the girl skeptically but her composure was failing her. She would not be able to stay much longer in the room, without giving something away and at this time she wasn't sure what would be the best course of action. She moved toward the door, taking the girl's chart with her, and acting as if it were in the best interest of the patient, Scully suggested Abigail should rest and clear her mind.

"I was serious about Agent Mulder," Abigail stated before Scully could leave the room. Scully looked back, now highly unsettled, and saw the seriousness in the woman's eyes, before leaving all together.


	3. Lunch Meeting

Chapter 3: Lunch Meeting

Scully paced her office impatiently. She had been poring over the young woman's files; files that had been brought to her not by any medical institution but by Walter Skinner. They were full of the unexplained and unbelievable; they read much like an x-file. The problems that she had, the many extended visits to different hospitals all across the country and the near death experiences with miraculous results were nothing short of unexplained. Scully believed what the girl said about living on borrowed time and yet Scully was shocked to see such a file. She had been dealing with illness for a long time now and even with Mulder's passions to live with, she had been away from this world of experimental genetic tests and extraterrestrial specimens that the signals that were jumping out of the chart at her were like a slap in the face.

"What is wrong Dana?" Mulder asked as he walked into her office and saw her pacing nervously by the window, "I brought your lunch." He smiled.

Scully turned and eyed the paper bag that Mulder had brought in with him and then turned back to the window and whatever had caught her attention outside on this brilliantly bright, beautiful day.

"I have a patient asking for you," Scully answered not turning away from her view.

"Who?" Mulder asked.

"Her name is Abigail Ventallo," she answered.

"Never heard of her Dana, I swear," Mulder said with a worried tone on his voice.

"I know you haven't," Scully said, "but as soon as you see her and she confides in you, you are going to wish you knew of her a long time ago. It's funny, you could have known her so easily and she could have helped you, me, everyone," she added as she felt the tears begin to roll down her cheeks, "I can't believe this is happening now."

"What is it Scully?" Mulder asked as he ran to her, "why is this girl so important? Why has she got you so freaked out? I haven't seen you like this in a long time."

"I can't tell you that without her permission," Scully said trembling in his arms. "Doctor, patient confidentiality," She whispered, "but we both knew this day was coming."

Mulder could feel the uncertainty in the woman he loved. They had been together for so long that a touch, a glance, a sigh, could tell him millions of the secrets of her heart. He knew that she belonged to him in more ways then were normally found in lovers. They were connected and perfect in their being meant for one another.

Scully could feel his desires and his fears in his embrace and his silence. He was contemplating the truth of his life. To go into the unknown and speak to this girl or take his beloved and just run; these were the questions he was battling with. Running would preserve the quiet simple life he had built for them. He had moved on, so to speak, continuing to write, to research, but he stayed quite more by force rather than fear. He wrote his articles under a pseudonym, he published works on profiling and violent under his legal name and he kept the house in order while Scully made the big bucks.

Scully knew he would choose her over the girl and the truth that may take him back to the darkness, but she knew she couldn't let him. Not this time. The time before them was drawing near, and though they had put the judgement day out of their minds and their lives she couldn't let them not try. She knew this day was coming and Mulder knew too much to just let it go.

"I'll take you to her. Her father feels it is the right thing to do," Scully said as she pulled out of his arms and picked up the girls file off the desk.

"Are you sure?" Mulder asked looking deep into her eyes.

"Yes," she answered, "we knew this time would come. We can't run from it any longer."


	4. Special Agent

Chapter 4: Special Agent

Mulder and Scully walked in silence down the darkening halls of the hospital, he held tightly to her hand without knowing he had even taken hold of it. They entered the room and to both of there surprises they found the young woman and Walter laughing and quite happy.

"Good to see you, Mulder," Walter said, stepping forward to shake hands.

"You have a daughter?" Mulder asked in surprise, "what else did you keep secret?" he asked with a smile.

"I am adopted Agent Mulder," Abigail said from her bed.

"That does not make you any less my daughter," Skinner said in a correcting tone.

The smile that spread across Abigail's face was bright and youthful. Her eyes sparkled and her cheeks blushed, and yet, the marks on her neck and face were still quite visible.

Mulder's smile faded as he noticed the marks and saw the truth in Scully's glance.

"This is my daughter, Abigail Ventallo," Walter said as Mulder walked to the bedside and shook her hand.

"Special Agent Ventallo," Abigail said.

"FBI, wow, Walter you must be very proud," Mulder said with a laugh, "the apple never falls far from the tree," he added and winked at Abigail.

"I am," Skinner said beaming.

"But he would much rather I'd pursued medicine, law or even music before the FBI," Abigail said in a teasing tone.

"Rightfully so, it is a cursed profession," Mulder joked.

"For some," Skinner added.

"Those who pursue the X-files it would seem," Abigail said as she lay back feeling dizzy.

"Can I get you anything?" Walter asked.

"No I am sure I will be fine," Abigail answered.

"What are you feeling?" Scully asked as she rushed to the bedside and checked the girls pulse and vitals on the monitor screens. "Nausea, dizziness, vertigo?" she asked.

"I am just a little dizzy," Abigail said as she shut her eyes tightly and waited for the high pitched squealing to stop in her ears, "I'd like some water if that is alright."

Water was fetched and she drank and was better with every passing moment. Mulder couldn't help but stare as he watched Scully work, marveling at her skill and the beauty that had always been apart of his Dana, and watched the girl seemingly recover right before his eyes. Minutes later, Scully had left them to attend to her other patients and Mulder settled into a chair to hear Abigail's story.

"Where would you like me to start Agent Mulder?" she asked as she looked at him quizzically.

"You can start by calling me just plain Mulder. I haven't been employed by the FBI for many years now," he said.

"I know that you have been pardoned as far as most men are concerned," she said looking at him.

"Yes, I guess I have been, but I am sure if push comes to shove I could be thrown in jail very easily. But then again the truth is out there and it is far more visible now," Mulder said.

"Perhaps," she said and motioned to a stack of papers among the belongings she had come in with, "but I assure you they have quite a case against you if you were to surface."

"I am not planning on resurfacing," Mulder said.

"Even if irrefutable proof could be given?" she asked.

"It would be destroyed before I could even touch it," Mulder said sceptically.

Abigail reached out and took his hand, "there you have touched it," she said, "just as you have touched it in Doctor Scully."

Mulder looked to Skinner for answers but just as many questions and fears were in his eyes.

"Even with that proof, it isn't enough," Mulder said after a long silence.

"Mulder you don't understand," Skinner said the fear visible on his face, "she is one of them."

"One of them?" Mulder asked with an uncertain laugh, as he looked at her cautiously. "One of them could mean so many things in my line of work." He added.

"More human than alien, but not human enough to not be a threat," Abigail said in a whisper.

"I don't believe it," Mulder said as he shook his head.

"It's all in her file," Scully piped in from the door of the room. She had been passing by and had overheard the beginnings of the conversation and so she stopped, waited and listened as the truth was revealed.

"You can read it," Abigail said and Scully handed over the file.

"Then why did the radiation affect you?" Mulder asked glancing up from the file.

"It was a different race of Alien," Abigail said, "one I have never encountered before."

"But we have," Scully said.

"It's all there in the X-files," Abigail said.

"So what? You are of a different race?" Mulder asked.

"Yes, one that is trying to protect us," Abigail said, "they are the race that believes we have every right to be here as any creature has the right to its home planet. We were put here for a reason and the other aliens are trying to mess with the creator. They are fighting the colonization."

"Are they struggling?" Mulder asked.

"Yes and no," Abigail said, "if they were, do you think I would have survived this long and if they weren't would I be affected by the radiation?"

"I don't understand," Mulder said as he tried so hard to read the girl before him.

"I was not created here on earth as the other aliens were. I was conceived as have many others. We are here to continue this human race and fight the future. It is your crusade Agent Mulder only on a much bigger level and we need you to prove it," she explained.

"How?" Mulder asked as he reached out for Scully's hand.

Without hesitation she took it and stood by his side.

"First you need access. You need to be out in the open and doing the damage that you once were. You need the X-files," Abigail stated. "Then you need me and the being that I am. And finally you need the good Doctor."

"I don't know," Mulder said looking into Scully's worried eyes, "I have worked too hard and too long to build this life for myself and for Dana. It just wouldn't be fair. I can't just stand up and put myself out there all over again."

"I thought you would stop at nothing," Abigail stated a hint of anger in her voice, "your files had me convinced that you would stop at nothing."

"People change, Agent Ventallo," Mulder stated, "they move on."

"But you don't," Abigail stated and silence fell again.


	5. The Truth is Here

Chapter 5: The truth is here 

Mulder stared at the girl before him. Was she telling the truth? Did he really want to believe her? What would this mean for Scully? His head was swimming with questions and everything that he had worked for came flooding back to him. He blinked his eyes purposely to try and focus them, and to try and organize his thoughts, but there was just too much rushing around.

"Mulder this could be your chance," Scully whispered into his ear.

"And what would it mean for you? He asked as he looked deep into her eyes.

"I don't know what it would mean for me," Scully said, "but it would be selfish to pull you away from this and we know that the time is drawing near. It's what you have worked and waited for all your life, Mulder, and if anything it may save lives; our lives."

Mulder looked from Scully and then to Skinner and then to the girl in the bed, "how do I know I can trust you? If I decided to follow you in blind faith I am risking more than myself. I will not risk Scully for the X-files."

"That never stopped you before," Skinner said.

"That was before, I am older and wiser now and I have seen what my years of neglect have done," Mulder said as he took Scully's hand again. "I have a different life now and it isn't just about me. I can't go into this without Scully, and knowing that she will be safe. How do I believe any of this? How do I trust after so many year of it just being Scully and myself?"

"I know you trust my father," Abigail answered Mulder's question, "or, rather, you did once and by what I have gathered, simply from seeing Doctor Scully interact with my father, she is quite trusting."

"I am," Scully said, "but then again I have always been a trusting person, well, until I was assigned to the X-files that is."

"I do trust Walter, but why, if the truth was so close all this time, did he not tell us about you?" Mulder asked.

"She was a little girl," Skinner said as he lowered his eyes, "and I didn't want to believe what was happening to her."

"But we didn't even know that you had a daughter," Mulder said. "How long have you been keeping this secret?" Mulder added.

"I'm still keeping it," Skinner answered, "you are among very few people that know there is any connection between us."

"The FBI has been misled. If they find out it could mean his job," Scully said.

"Is the truth really worth that?" Mulder asked as he looked back at Skinner.

"You are a better judge of that," Skinner answered, "I'm more concerned about her wellbeing rather than the truth," he added, "if it would have been up to me, I would have continued to keep her a secret, even from you. But she is a grown woman now, following her own ideals and discovering the X-files with a blind faith I have only ever seen in you, Mulder. She has decided that this truth, the truth that lives within her, is not to be kept from the world and if it can save lives, right wrongs and prevent the same thing happening to other people, then that is what she is going to do with her life and I can't stop her."

"That was pretty much verbatim," Abigail said from her bed.

"We have had this fight many, many, times before," Walter answered.

"The problem that seems to arise most of the time, however, is I don't go looking for trouble, it seems to find me. Before I wasn't really sure why that was but from my research and yours, all the things that are in the x-files, and the growing hostilities of the alien races, I understand now what is going on. I was sure something was different about me, but I didn't know what until recently, and the only thing I didn't understand was how people could not believe and be ignorant about the existence of extraterrestrials."

"Ignorance is bliss," Scully said as she began pacing the room, "with everything that is going on in the world why would people want one more thing to worry about. Unless it is right in your face like an economic crisis or job loss then why pay much attention. Until mass extinction happens I don't think all humans will ever fully give into a belief that we are not alone in the universe."

"It took Scully a long, long time, even with all the evidence," Mulder said.

"What you really risk here is mass hysteria," Scully said, "You have to take it slow. Prevent what is coming rather than bring it all into the light. You will always have to be on the side of good. Now do we really know what side that is?"

"Good? Good is on the side that is for the protection of the human race," Abigail said.

"Fighting colonization," Mulder added.

"It really is an impossible task. We couldn't prevent it then, how can we stop it now?" Scully asked.

"You've taken quite an interest in this Doctor Scully," Abigail said as she perked up, "am I to believe that you are giving us the go ahead, a clean bill of health so to speak?"

"Not yet," Scully answered, "at least not you, I would like to keep you for a little more observational time. As for this, our reunion with the X-files, we shall call it, Mulder can't go at it alone, and he gets himself into too much trouble. I have to tag along to some extent or he'll end up killed, he's not as young as he used to be and, well, I always manage to save his life. Mulder doesn't always look before he leaps."

"It's true, and I am glad Scully is coming to this conclusion on her own," Mulder laughed, "it saves me the time and energy begging and bribing her to tag along. I've become completely reliant on the little woman; she is my 'everything'." He stated.

Scully folded her arms and raised one eyebrow as she silently stared at Mulder.

"I just went a step too far," Mulder said as he sunk back into his chair.

"So I can count on you for help?" Abigail asked.

"Yes," Scully said, "I will do all that I can from this end of the business. I don't do autopsies on aliens anymore and I refuse to be infected with anything alien, mutant or otherwise and if you bring bugs into my hospital or office I may freak out, but I will do as much as I can medically and scientifically to help you."

"I'll pull all the strings," Skinner said.

"And I have new alliances and lines into the government conspiracies," Mulder said, "I have been keeping up with as much as possible."

"I must admit, Mulder, I am an avid fan of yours, I have been keeping up with your journaling, it is incredibly fascinating," Abigail said.

Scully rolled her eyes.

"Until the truth is known I will not rest," Mulder said dramatically, "the people have a right to know what their governement is putting them through."

"They also have a right not to care," Scully laughed, "you kids have fun, I have rounds to make. I will see you all later," she added and left the room.

"I really like her," Abigail smiled at her father, "I would have liked to have known her before now."

"She'll keep you both grounded," Skinner said, "I guess I have to take relief in that."

"She likes to prove me wrong," Mulder confessed.

"Even when the truth is right in front of her," Abigail asked.

"Oh yes, especially then!" Mulder answered, "But if you can convince Scully then you may be able to convince anyone."

"Well then I will set my goals on Doctor Scully," Abigail said, "but first I have to get out of this hospital and back to the office."

"You'll have to be patient until the Doctor releases you. Until then, you stay where you are," Skinner said making his authority known.

"I know," Abigail sighed, "Do you have time for chess?" she asked her father.

"I always have time for you," he answered and Mulder crept out of the room.


	6. In the Office

Chapter 6: In the Office

Mulder followed the familiar path through the hospital and to the small office that he knew was Scully's. He had come to know the hospital and his way around it almost as well as he had once known the J. Edgar Hoover building, but that seemed like a life time ago, and yet, here it was, staring him in the face, all of a sudden. But then again he had been waiting for it. When the year had dawned and the time that he new was fast on his heels he wondered what was going to happen to the world. He hadn't seen much of it, but since leaving the FBI he and Scully had seen some of the changes and the marvelous places they had been around the world. He always knew that there was worth in the world he lived in and it was worth saving, but he had come to love the life he was living and the comfort he found in coming home every night to a woman who loved him completely. He had become blinded by the creature comforts of a home and someone to share his life with, and the guilt of throwing a curve ball into it was at the forefront of his thoughts.

"The bases are loaded Mulder," he said to himself as he rounded the corner that lead down a tight hallway lined with offices and laboratories.

He found Scully's office without a problem. It was small but larger than the one he had shared with her years ago and it was much nicer than their basement dungeon. The walls were a warm yellow colour and Scully had picked out some rather stunning pieces of art to adorn the walls, there were no UFO or monster in this place but rather palm leaves and tropical colours. He walked in and found himself a seat that faced the large mahogany desk that took up most of the room and he smiled to see that a photograph of the two of them took the place of honor on her desk. She was sitting in front of her computer typing away as he sat down in front of her and silence fell for a long moment as the sun shone in through the large window that looked out on the world.

"What are you thinking?" Scully asked as she looked up from her computer.

"I don't know what to think," Mulder said.

"Do you want my opinion?" Scully asked.

"I always want your opinion," Mulder said sarcastically.

"Mulder, really this may be your chance. Everything you have been searching for, the huge event that will prove to mankind that there is life beyond us and that it has been here for quite some time," Scully said as she stood and began to pace the length of her small office.

"You are making me uncomfortable," Mulder said as he watched and listened, "would you at least sit down so we can talk this out. Preferably in my lap," he stated playfully with a grin.

Scully rolled her eyes and stood by the window. "So you can talk and make me listen," she asked, "it doesn't work that way anymore, Fox, we aren't those people, we are not agents. We only have ourselves and absolutely no access to anything anymore. But now here is a girl picking up where you left off and with a gift that, if made public, could clear your name, my name, and be the proof that you have always been searching for. But now that it is right here, so close that we can taste it, you are the one wanting to be the big skeptic?" she asked in disbelief.

"I have never seen you like this Dana," Mulder said as he stood and walked to the window where he could look down into the brilliance of her glistening eyes.

"You were always too busy looking to the sky to notice that I actually had become quite passionate about this subject. How could I not, with all of the things that we have seen and all of the time and energy it took to conceal it all," she sighed, "I bet you never expected that I would even be continuing on with this world. I have been seeing this change in children's DNA structure for quite some time. Most physicians believe it to be a mutation that is occurring naturally but I knew something was not quite as it seemed," she said as she turned and walked out of the office.

"Wait you have my attention now, where are you going?" Mulder asked as he began to follow.

"I don't know what else to do to convince you that this girl may be your one and only chance, Mulder," Scully said as she marched down the hospital hallways and into another work area, "take these and read through them," she said handing him a small stack of one inch three ring binders, "this is all of my research thus far as it pertains to the alien DNA, as I am calling it, and the appearance of the mutated human genome. It isn't much, but then again, what can you do when the body is completely immune to radiation? It gets very hard to do any experiments on it."

"You have been doing this completely behind my back?" Mulder asked as he stared down at the binders. "The body is completely immune to radiation?" he asked as the weight of her words started to register in his mind.

"That's when the warning flags went up," Scully answered, "we've dealt with radiation too often for it not to look a little suspicious on my end of the business."

"Why did you never tell me about this before?" Mulder asked.

"You are too preoccupied now. I am not an agent any more, just a mild mannered doctor and you seem to have lost sight of how we used to work together on things like this, but because I am a doctor now, you don't see my work as your work and my cause is no longer your cause. Really, it is and I never gave up on it," Scully answered, "I think we could both learn a lot from that young woman."

Mulder stared for a long moment as Scully stood before him, her hands on her hips. His mouth had dropped open and absolute disbelief was written all over his face, "I'm so shocked to hear you talk like this," he said breaking the silence, "I don't know what to say."

"Say, thank you Dana for caring so much about my cause, and my beliefs," Scully said and leaned against a desk.

"I'm so sorry if I ever lost sight of you," Mulder said looking into her eyes, "I should never underestimate you."

"No you shouldn't," Scully smiled, "now, stop with the flattery, it's not going to get you anywhere, but those binders might. It's really brilliant if I do say so myself. I'm convinced that the girl is telling the truth; it's been staring me in the face for years now."

"I am beginning to think you are right but I am still trying to understand why you never told me about all of this," he said looking into her eyes once more.

"Because you have forgotten how to see what is right in front of you," she answered, "You look and look, but you never just stop and see. I've always been here Fox, but you fail to really see me anymore, at least not in that way. I am still a scientist and I still want to believe, and I know the truth is out there because I have seen it."

"I'm sorry I have left you behind," Mulder said as he embraced the woman he loved.

"I managed to keep up to you," Scully smiled, "at least a little. Not bad for a girl. By the way, you can pick up the flattery again, I liked It." she giggled.


	7. Released

Chapter 7: Released

Abigail spent more time in the hospital than she would have liked, but the day finally arrived when Doctor Scully finally signed the release papers and sent Abigail on her way. The nurses fussed over her, as they would any patient, and made her make the ride out of the hospital in a wheelchair. As soon as she was at the front doors, Abigail stood up, stretched, and looked around at the people that milled about. There were people of all walks of life in the gardens and the lead up to the hospital. It was a peaceful kind of place, and yet no one really wanted to be there. A stone display of the hospital's patron saint stood at the entrance as the drive looped around it and a small foot garden made up the primary sights at the front of the hospital.

"Most people only see you on their way out," Abigail whispered to the statue as she passed it, walking through the little garden to the parking lot on the other side. "We like to arrive by the rear entrance. It's more exciting that way." She added as she walked into the parking lot and left the little garden behind her.

The parking lot was packed with vehicles but Abigail spotted the car and the person who had given her his word that he would be waiting for her. Dressed in a black suit with a tie far to bright for his complexion and dark aviator sunglasses was Agent William Blake, partner and keeper of the young woman who was too busy to care about anyone but herself. William was a young man, standing a foot taller than Abigail, but bordering the same age as the young woman. He was a handsome young man, with dark eyes and sandy coloured hair. He looked like he had stepped out of a surfing magazine, with his dark, tanned complexion, but his face was serious and very seldom did he smile at anyone but the woman who walked toward him. Truth be told, William had loved Abigail from the moment they had been partnered with each other and the more he came to know her and her personality, the more he realized that she needed someone to protect her, although he would never tell her that. They worked together in the violent crimes division and of the two, Abigail was the more aggressive in the team. She worked hard, believing that she had everything to prove and nothing to loose, but he wasn't so sure she understood just how much damage she was doing. William was of a skeptic mind, working in the FBI for the greater good of all and yet he was stuck with a reputation of a puppy dog that followed the crazies into the unknown but he was good at guarding his own secrets. His record was tainted by his involvement with the woman who had a brilliant mind but who had a crusade that many in the FBI saw as unreasonable and completely absurd. William tried with all his might to make Abigail see the difference in the cases they studied, but he knew where her passion lay and was going to help her accomplish whatever she had to, if it meant one more moment with her.

"Welcome back to the land of the living," William stated as he watched her, dressed in street cloths, walk up to his car.

"Did you bring me my work clothes?" Abigail asked without greeting him.

"Hello to you to," he said as he fell into the driver seat and she followed him into the car. "You don't think you are going in to work today, do you?" he asked.

"If I tell you no, would you believe me?" Abigail asked.

"No," he answered, "but seriously, Abby, you just got released from the hospital, why are you doing this to yourself?"

"Because, everything that I believe and everything I have been working toward is starting to come together," Abigail said excitedly, "I met him, William, I met Agent Fox Mulder!"

"Whoopee," William stated sarcastically as he backed out of his parking spot and into the lanes of the lot, "so you've been working the whole time you were in the hospital, why am I not surprised? Why can't you just be sick and deal with it?"

"I'm not sick," Abigail stated as she pulled the plastic off her dry-cleaned suit that William had brought with him, "I was attacked, and so were you. Why are you not in worse condition then I am?"

"They didn't want me," William stated, "Surprisingly, I wasn't touched at all."

"But do you believe me now?" Abigail asked, "you saw the alien ship, you saw my attackers, you brought me into this hospital. You have to believe the proof that was right in front of you."

"How could I not believe?" William asked, "You've been filling my head with these stories for five years, yeah that's right, we've been working together for five years now Abby, and we are already stuck in a rut. We'll never move up in this job because of what you have decided to focus on. God, and all you care about is getting back to work," He stated as he watched her strip out of her clothes and pull on her suit.

"I never said you had to follow me," Abigail stated clearly annoyed with his ranting and raving.

"No, you didn't," William sighed.

"Well then you have no reason to complain. You either want to be here with me or you don't." she snapped, "you can go into the office, talk to your superiors and get moved to another office or better yet another state and you wont have to deal with me anymore, if you'd prefer."

"That's not what I want," William sighed, "I would just like to feel like I have some say in what we do."

"When you start pulling the X-files out of oblivion and fighting the future without hesitation, then I will give you some room to lead. Until then, I'm it baby, and you'd better deal with it," she stated, putting on her own tie and sunglasses and settling down for the rest of the ride. "Now, if you object to me going into work today you can drive me to my apartment, I'll pick up my car and I'll meet you at the office. If not we can save time and you can just take me there. We have a very important meeting to plan for and if you are in this as much as I am, you are going to be pretty impressed with who's going to be at my party!"

"Fine," William sighed, "I'll take you to the office."

"Ha, there is a reason that the other agents call you my puppy dog, you know that right?" she laughed.

"Cause you don't let me off my leash ever," William stated.

"I have you where I want you," Abigail stated as she looked over her aviators and batted her eyes.

"I'd kiss you if I wasn't so pissed off right now," William stated.

"I'd knock you out if you tried," Abigail retorted and silence fell between them.


	8. Like Looking in a Mirror

Chapter 8: Like Looking In a Mirror

Abigail walked slowly and cautiously into the small house Mulder and Scully shared with one another. She had imagined this meeting so many times before and now she was nervous and frightened of the things she would learn.

She and William had worked hard to compile all of the information on the alien colonies that they had gathered as well as all of the X-files as they pertained to Mulder and Scully. There was so much information in these files that Abigail and William had to make several trips out of the building just to get the files to where they wanted them.

After arriving at the J. Edgar Hoover building, on the same day that Abigail was released from the hospital, Abigail had gone directly down into the dungeon of the aging building where Mulder's office had been transformed into a storage closet and all of the X-files were held captive among the old unwanted office furniture and broken photocopier machines. She put herself to work sorting through the mess and pulling files that may or may not be of any interest. While she worked, William was sent on a fool's errand. He went to the office where he was assigned, gathered anything on the current case that they were assigned to, and took off under the pretext of starting surveillance, then he found his way to Assistant Director Skinner's office and there Walter filled him in on the plans and access that he and Abigail would have under his supervision. The files were packed up and transported out of the FBI building with relative ease and brought back to William's apartment where they got right to business sorting and designing the case that they were preparing to present; all during their personal time. Meanwhile the agents carried on with the business they were regularly assigned to and though they had much to occupy their time, they worked diligently until the day finally arrived.

William and Abigail had taken a leave together from their regular duties to make the visit to the former agents. Off the books, William drove himself and Abigail out to the rural residence that Mulder and Scully shared; they booked themselves into a small motel and arranged for the meeting that would once again bring them face to face with the past and everything that was in the x-files.

They arrived early in the morning and were welcomed into the house by a less intimidating Doctor Scully. The house was prim and proper, clean and well decorated. It was nothing like Abigail had imagined. William seemed more attuned to the situation. He was polite in his greeting and introductions, engaged in small talk and entertained Doctor Scully with his lack luster approach to the case at hand. Abigail didn't really understand why he followed her so completely when he didn't believe as she believed but William was an asset to her, and she wouldn't want to be parted from him. He said he wanted to believe but he found more comfort in harmlessly talking to Doctor Scully about the tangible and the now, rather than chasing after monsters and mythology. Scully showed them through the house and then when she opened the door to Mulder's office Abigail became more comfortable. This room was exactly what she had been expecting; the mountains of papers, files and photographs, terrible images of alien life and stacks of journals, many of which would have published his works. She had pictured, many times, what the office in the basement of the J. Edgar Hoover building would have looked like when he was the primary resident and the X-files took up his time.

Mulder stood from his place; a yellow pencil tucked behind his ear, and shook hands with the new agent he had not yet met. He could tell just by looking at William that there wasn't the interest or the devotion that he saw in Abigail but there was something else that he was hiding. There was a strange familiarity in the way the young man looked at him and for a moment Mulder felt like he had to try and remember where or when he had ever met him. Mulder saw, in the roll reversal, the mirror image of himself and Scully as he looked at the two young agents that had been welcomed into his home.

Scully laughed and rolled her eyes when she too saw the resemblance that had peeked Mulder's interest.

"Would it be safe to assume, agent Blake, that you have seen your fair share of alien autopsies, and unexplained specimen?" Scully laughed.

"How ever did you know, Doctor Scully?" William asked with a sarcastic laugh. "I did my undergrad in forensic science and later was accepted into Johns Hopkins. The Bureau salivates for people with our specialties, although I never thought it would lead to me questioning the science I had come to rely on."

"Neither did I," Scully smiled.

"And why did you choose the FBI?" Mulder asked intrigued by the connection between the young man and Scully.

"I'd always wanted to be an agent," Will smiled, "I became a doctor to further my chances. I joined the academy instead of going into a private practice and now here I am, chasing after God knows what, but at least I have medicine to fall back on when the FBI kicks me out."

"Or when your reputation as a good agent fails," Abigail teased, "at least then you'll be able to start afresh as a grumpy old man curing God knows what disease and making all your patients angry with you."

"For now, I am young and reckless, and everyone likes me," William said playing along and not giving Abigail the satisfaction of knowing that she had hit a nerve.

"So, what have you brought for me?" Mulder asked as he placed himself on the living room sofa and watched as the agents unpacked the familiar files he had devoted his life to, "ah my dear old friends, how I have missed you," he added mockingly as he started to reminisce over the files.

"It hasn't been long enough," Scully sighed as she was handed her own file.

"You have a very rich history, as it would seem," William stated as he handed over another file baring the Scully name, "not just one personal appearance but two?"

"More than two," Mulder laughed, "she just wasn't the primary subject in the other cases."

"I got involved in all the fun ones," Scully smiled as she stood and walked toward the kitchen, "tea anyone?" she asked.

"I'll help," William said as he caught Abigail's eye and her look implored him to leave.

"Wow, is your kind telepathic too?" Mulder asked as he witnessed the interaction that happened before him.

"No," Abigail stated, "Will and I have a way of understanding each other."

"Yeah, it comes with years of working together," Mulder laughed, "but when I give that look to Scully she climbs into my bed…"

"We've not come to that part of the relationship," Abigail stated a blush rising in her cheeks.

"That I find surprising," Mulder stated taken aback, "I could have sworn there was something way more between you two."

"No, we are strictly business Agent Mulder, I assure you," Abigail said sitting a little taller.

"Well then lets get too it," Mulder said flipping through familiar files, "there must be something very important you want to ask me, if you had to chase your partner of out the room."

"There is," Abigail stated, "I am only assuming that there is a lot that you left out of the files and from my research I've only ever come across the existence of two alien colonies in the X-files. Can you honestly tell me that you've not known of the existence of others?"

"I didn't until recently," Mulder admitted, "I was aware of the black oil aliens and their need to colonize and the red radiation aliens that preferred to fight the black oil for supremacy of this planet. It seems we have something really good going on down here."

Abigail sighed, visibly disappointed with the results of her questions.

"I'm sorry to disappoint you, but perhaps you would like to talk to Scully, she seems far more knowledgeable about the white aliens, as she calls them, then I am." Mulder stated. "I'll get her for you."

"No, I'm sure I'll have a chance to talk to her about the subject," Abigail stated; her ideas and anticipations of her meeting with Mulder were losing all the mystique and allure that they once had. "I was certain that you would have been able to tell me something. My interpretation of the case of your son had me convinced that he was one of us."

"I can't give you much information on our son," Mulder stated, "I was in exile most of that time, anything involving my son and a case that may have developed around him is the primary knowledge of the agents involved in the case. I was not one of them."

"What happened to him?" Abigail asked flipping through the file, "after the adoption."

"We don't know," Mulder confessed, "and I would rather you keep that subject to a minimum around Dana."

"Why? She is the primary agent on the case," Abigail stated.

"She's also a wounded mother who gave up her child to protect him," Mulder said, "and she can't have any more children. The loss of our son is a point of high emotional stress for her. We don't talk about it very much and I would prefer that you, as a stranger, do not dive into the subject."

"But it may help my investigation," Abigail stated.

"It's off limits," Mulder said, "you try to push the subject and I will pull my cooperation. I really don't have anything else to lose but Dana and if this investigation is going to, in any way, strain my relationship with her then I'm out. I will continue on with speculation and my beliefs and I will let this year end as any others have before it, because I will do it in happy ignorance with the woman I love. If there is one thing that I have learned in my life, it is that if one person is willing to stand with you, love you and be with you, you had better hold onto that because there really isn't anyone else who cares. Shout all you want from the mountains, the only people to hear you are the ones standing with you."

"You don't want to know the truth about everything?" Abigail questioned her anger rising.

"Not if it's going to hurt Scully," Mulder stated.

"I was wrong about you," Abigail said, seething with anger, "I was sure you were the kind of man to stop at nothing."

"Time changes everything," Mulder said. "I'm sorry to disappoint, but you'll get over it, just as everyone else did and I will forever be the disappointment that everyone has always said that I was."

"I don't want to believe that," Abigail stated, "I want to know that I am doing good in the world. That I may save lives and that you can help me."

"I don't know what you want me to do," Mulder stated, "I can't give you anymore information than what you already have in the X-files or what I may or may not have speculated upon, but Scully on the other hand has given me all of the research that she has been continuing throughout her years as a highly respected doctor. You may find more answers here than I can give you," he said as he handed the binders across the coffee table to the woman who sat across from him.

Silence fell among them as Abigail read through the scientific journaling of one Doctor Dana Scully and Mulder watched not yet sure about the woman that sat before him, or her motives.


	9. The Truth Revealed

Chapter 9: The Truth Revealed.

William followed Scully into the kitchen where she began to busy herself with the tea things. She was still a woman in her prime, brilliant and vibrant, and clearly very happy with the life she was leading. He had read all about her, as her career progressed in the medical field, once he had spotted the name in the X-files. There was something about her, about the way she wrote, the way she chronicled her files and conducted her autopsies that peaked his interest. He was just as excited to finally meet this woman, for different reasons, as Abigail was to meet Mulder. He wanted Abigail to believe that he was completely uninterested with the case and the files, though he did have his own motives. He remained calm, collected and uninterested; Abigail was unaware of his devotion to the former special agent and he pretended not to be aware of her obsession with Agent Mulder and the X-files. The truth was that Doctor Scully held a lot of answers to his own questions, personal and professional, and he wanted nothing more than to breech his own conversations with this special woman. Scully held her own secrets and as he watched her for a moment he knew what he had already guessed. His heart rose into his throat as she smiled at him and passed him a plain white tea pot and a stack of saucers.

"You didn't have to help," Scully smiled as she pulled a coffee cake from the refrigerator and began to slice it, "I'm sure I can manage."

"Abigail wanted me out of her hair," William smiled innocently, "she has an interrogation to conduct and I have no authority over the questions she's going to ask. It's a good cop bad cop thing we've got going on."

"I remember those days," Scully laughed and leaned against the counter, "like I didn't have some input or some interest in the subjects myself. Scientifically speaking, the X-files are a gold mine."

"Tell me about it," William laughed becoming more nervous and desirous with every passing moment.

"So I suppose it would be in my better interest to keep you occupied while our better halves discuss the future," Scully stated and offered William a chair at the bar counter that connected the kitchen with the dining room, "tell me about your self."

William nearly choked at the turn in the conversation. He wanted to tell her, to confess everything to this woman as he had never done before in his life. His secrets were her secrets and here was the opening but he didn't know how to begin. He paused for a moment allowing the colour to fade from his face and choosing his words very carefully. He looked up at her, "I don't know much about myself," he stated.

"I beg your pardon?" Scully asked leaning against the counter.

"What I know for sure is that I have always been interested in medicine, in science and the FBI, but that's all I can really say," William stated.

"That's odd," Scully said as she sat down beside him at the bar.

"I know," William sighed.

"Are you trying to tell me that your skepticism isn't so much skepticism as it is a front?" Scully asked, her old interrogative strategies coming into play.

"Yes," William answered. "Is that common, would you say, as fellow abductees?"

"Does Abigail know about this?" Scully asked in more of a hushed voice.

"No, she knows only of my educational history," William stated, "I'd become her guinea pig if I gave her any other information. I believe I may be more alien then she is, if that is possible. I was an accident; I should have never come to be. I don't want anymore of my life in the X-files than it already is."

Scully stared at the young man for a moment. There was something familiar in him. His dark eyes, she had seen them before but couldn't quite decide where or when, "what are you trying to tell me, Agent Blake?" she asked.

"I believe, I'm your son," he stated as he reached out and took her hand.

"That's impossible," Scully stated and pulled her hand away, "my son would only be eleven or twelve, you're far too old."

"I have no memory of my life before I entered into my undergraduate studies in forensic science and even then it was only one year until I graduated from a four year degree of study in that field and then I went on to medicine." William stated, his eyes pleading with Scully, "When I read the file on your son, my memories started to come back. I remember the day you gave me away, specifically the way you looked," he said and lowered his eyes, "you looked like you do now, I'm sorry. I shouldn't have said anything." He added and rose to leave.

"Wait," Scully said reaching out and taking his hand again, "how do you explain the time difference?"

"I can't," William sighed, "biologically I've done all the tests I could on myself. My genetic code isn't right. It's alien in itself. I can isolate part of a human genome but not all, and what I have, I have run against you."

"And?" Scully asked, holding her breath.

William nodded but remained silent as he watched the change in the woman before him.

"And what about Mulder?" Scully asked trying to hold back her tears as she realized that the eyes that looked back at her were in fact those of the man she loved.

"I ran both of you, from samples that were not easy to get my hands on," he stated. "The only conclusions I can make is that something happened after I was left and in an attempt to find out what, I invested in hypnotherapy."

"And that's where the abduction comes in," Scully stated, "the people that I'd given you up to, accused me of kidnapping only months into our separation. I kept it as quiet as I could but you were never found and my alibis were solid. I never knew what happened to you after that point."

"I don't know where I was, or how long I was gone but when I was placed back here I was like this," William stated motioning to his body, "I didn't have a childhood, I have human and alien DNA, my instincts told me to join the FBI, my brain said study medicine and I'm completely immune to radiation. I'm a freak without a family, a past, or the prospects of a happy future. The reason that Abigail was injured wasn't because she was the target. I was. I'm meant to be destroyed and I believe, judging from the X-file on me, that I was never meant to be in the first place."

"It's because you are the truth William," Scully gasped.

"So are you," William stated. "I believe that you have been protected for a long time, you and Mulder, because of the Alien experiments that you were subjected to and because of who I am; who we are."

"So you really are one of them?" Scully asked as she reached out and touched her sons face.

"Please be more specific, mother," William said and tried to hide his smile.

Scully shook her head in disbelief and yet the resemblance was starting to come through. She saw part of her father and of Mulder in the young man's face and as he smiled at her, she couldn't help but believe. "One of the white aliens," Scully stated, "they have been here for a long time, reproducing I believe, with humans to create a race of humans that can withstand the forces that the colonizing aliens are trying to force on this planet. They are saving us."

"I'm pretty sure that you are correct," William stated taking Scully's hands and holding them, "my research tells me that most humans living today have some links to the alien DNA, some more than others. You held a key to my creation, and Mulder had been apart of the experiments long before anyone even though to blame unbelievable phenomena on alien activities. I am assuming that you are both more alien than human and yet human enough to not fall completely to the colonizing aliens. That is what has always made you both such a threat. That is why you have more personal appearances in the X-files than anyone else."

"You have your father's eyes," Scully smiled. "And your grandfather's smile."

"Were you paying attention to anything I just told you?" William asked with a laugh.

"Yes," Scully said as the tears began to roll down her cheeks. "I want you to know, that I always wanted you," she said sadly.

"I know, we're more alike than even you can imagine," William smiled and kissed her cheek, "we're just cursed; maybe when this year is over, we can have the relationship that has been stolen from us."

"I hope so," Scully smiled, "we have to fight the future; If not for all of humanity, then for ourselves."

"We have been," William stated. "And we will continue to do so. The truth is closer than it has ever been, Agent Scully."

"But why, have you not told all of this to Abigail," Scully asked. "She is your greatest ally in this quest and she is so hopelessly devoted to her cause."

"Because I am in love with her," William confessed, "I have been since the moment I laid eyes on her. That was before I knew what her passions were. She hardly even sees me. I'm just another passenger on the same air plane, nothing more than a passing fancy. If I told her about my history and my X-file, things would change and not for the better. I don't want her to see me as nothing more then a lab rat."

"I understand," Scully sighed and kissed his cheek, "someday she will see you for the brilliant man that you are. Until then, I'm sorry to say, you have a lot to prove."


	10. The Colonies

Chapter 10: The Colonies.

Agent Blake and Dana Scully made their way back into the living room to find it filled with silence, not a good sign, as they sat down with Mulder and Agent Ventallo. It had taken a little while for Scully to regain her composure long enough to rejoin the conversation but even as she took her seat beside Mulder he could tell that something had passed between herself and the young man who sat attentively beside the young female agent.

Abigail remained silent as she read through the binders that Mulder had placed before her. She was disappointed with the lack of headway she had made with a man whom she idolized. He had always been the missing link to all of her studies and though his files were like the Holy Grail he was reluctant, still, to help her.

"Can you tell me anything else about the colonies, Mr. Mulder?" Abigail asked as she set aside the binders and broke the silence that had fallen around the room.

"I'm sure you could probably tell me more about them now," Mulder stated, "all I know for sure is that there are two colonies that are trying to take control of earth, one has been working for several years with our own government and the other has been fighting the colonization for their own means."

"We've had encounters with both types of alien races," Scully added "the third we have been oblivious to."

"Most people are, Doctor Scully," Agent Ventallo stated, "I think that was the plan all along, but judging from your research I would say you are more familiar with them than you let on."

"The mutated gene is becoming more common," Scully stated, "I've seen it often enough in my younger patients but it's rather rare in adults."

"Procreation takes time," Abigail stated, "For the most part, I don't believe that the colonizing aliens understand the resistance they will encounter, but that doesn't mean that if the government is involved that we will not fall to their weapons. We may be immune to the radiation of the Red Race and the Black Oil, but we're still human to the extent that, if you shoot us, we bleed."

"Toward the end of my career we attempted cross-mutation or perhaps a government experiment that caused the aliens to rejuvenate." Mulder stated.

"I believe you fall into that category, sir," Abigail stated, "you were clinically dead for months, how did you become resurrected?"

"We don't really know," Mulder answered.

"The bionic hybrids that the government has developed in aid for the Black race has a weakness, just as many of their fellows," Abigail stated, "my research shows that the stiletto that is applied to the back of their necks even with the metallic skeletal structure will destroy them. The red race is aware of this face."

"We've been chronicling the progress of the races for several years now. I've seen my fair share of the carnage that both races have reeked on each other," William stated, "not my favorite autopsies to perform."

"The war is raging between the races," Abigail stated, "they are close at each other heels but the government plans to go forward with final colonization as formerly announced. December brings about our demise as it were, unless we can stand up to the races and cause our own resistance."

"But you said yourself that you are capable of withstanding the attacks of both races," Scully stated.

"We are, but what of those humans who are ignorant of what is going on around them and do not have the alien DNA floating around inside them?" Abigail asked.

"So what is it really that you are looking to do in the few months that remain in 2012?" Mulder asked.

"We have to rally an army to be ready to fight," Abigail stated passionately. "It may be the only way to give our race a chance to survive."

"It's mid-summer now, how are we going to do that in such a short time?" Scully asked.

"Especially when most people don't know they are alien," Mulder added.

"The governments will never allow it. You will be stopped at every turn," Scully added, "if they aren't already hunting your people down and killing them to make way for the race of aliens that they have pledged their loyalty to for years."

"They have never perfected their vaccine or their alien human hybrids," Abigail stated, "but they are still prepared to go through with what is happening. Don't you think if we could give them proof of our existence then they would join our side?"

"No," Mulder laughed, "the government is your biggest enemy, not the aliens."

"The aliens are set to destroy us!" Abigail stated passionately, "how are they not our enemies?"

"I will tell you exactly how it will happen," Mulder stated, "you will build your case, take our information and your own and you will go to the government, to anyone who will listen but what you don't know is that you have been watched all this time. Don't think for a second that they have not been bugging your apartment, tapping your phones and watching every move the X-files make. They have you on their radar and even though you think you will go and find the highest authorities, those people really in charge of this colonization have higher authorities than anyone. They are called the syndicate and even though most of their primary members were destroyed by the red aliens, they have reestablished themselves and are out there again. They will come to you with open arms when you get to close, they will promise you great things and then when you believe what they are telling you they will feed you to the wolves. The alien colonists will experiment on you, will find a way to defeat your race and they will then have the upper hand over the others. It will conclude years of their sacrifices and the colonization will go through as planned."

"So you are saying we are doomed any way we play our cards?" Abigail asked.

"Yes," Mulder stated, "I wouldn't be surprised if they know exactly what you are up to already."

"They can't," Abigail gasped, "we've been so careful."

"So were we," Mulder stated motioning to Scully and himself, "but you have my file, you know what I am up against. I have been silenced in the same way you will be. Watch yourself. My advice to you would be take this handsome young man you work with and who has given up his career and his reputation to follow you and run away. Forget the X-files, forget the colonies and just enjoy what life you have in sweet oblivion until the world ends. You don't have much time."

"I'm not about to give up that easily," Abigail said as she stood.

"I'm sorry, what more can we do?" Mulder asked, "2010 is well underway, the colonies have already started attacking you and the government won't be far behind. If they see that you are not posing anymore of a threat to their ultimate plans they won't bother you and maybe you will survive the colonization."

"Maybe we should listen to him," William stated as he grabbed Abigail's arm and pulled her back to her place on the couch.

"You won't survive the apocalypse," Abigail stated tears in her eyes, "what do you think I am fighting for?"

"You don't know that," William stated.

"What so you want to be a slave to an alien colony?" Abigail asked, shock in her voice.

"Are we not slaves now?" William stated.

"Believe what you wish," Abigail stated as she stood, pulled together the files that she had brought and stormed out.

"I'm sorry," William said as he stood and shaking Mulder and Scully's hands he followed his partner out of the house.


	11. Something in Your Look

Chapter 11: Something in Your Look

Mulder and Scully walked to the door and watched as the agents fought over who would drive, who was being a traitor and who was too emotional to get behind the wheel. Finally William prevailed to take his place in the driver's seat and Abigail reluctantly threw herself into the back seat with all of the files and her anger.

"Well that went well," Mulder stated as he reached out and took Scully's hand.

"Did you expect it to go any other way?" Scully asked as they watched the car pull out of their driveway.

"Not really," Mulder laughed.

"You didn't give them as much information as I thought you would. You've been studying this colonization from the side lines forever." Scully said as they walked back to the couch and sat down together.

"They didn't even have cake!" Mulder said reaching out for the tea and cake that Scully had brought in earlier, "they must have guessed that neither you nor I are very good cooks."

"That cake is store bought, it's delicious!" Scully laughed, "And you're trying to change the subject."

"I've got my own agenda, yes," Mulder admitted leaning back and pulling Scully into his arms, "but you already knew that, you've been my eyes and ears in the hospital for quite some time and I have been corresponding with many of my old friends to keep me posted. What she doesn't know can't hurt her."

"Or it might," Scully stated.

"I knew you had a secret, there was something in your look that told me so, now you had better spill the beans Dana," Mulder stated.

"Oh no, I'm going to make you guess," Scully teased.

"No you aren't," Mulder retorted and watched the change in her countenance again.

"That boy isn't all he has admitted to being," Scully stated.

"I knew that, you can tell by looking at him that he's keeping his own secrets. Someone of his education and background would never stay this devoted to a young woman who was ruining his career." Mulder stated.

"I'm offended by that remark."

"And I nearly had you killed many times," he stated. "But you have always been madly in love with me, so I knew you would never leave."

"Even more offended!" Scully cried.

"But I'm right!"

"Yeah maybe you are, and maybe I'm interested but I can't see why you are playing hardball with these two young people who seem to be fighting for exactly what you are fighting for." Scully said.

"You still haven't told me his secret," Mulder stated changing the subject. "He told you something while you were alone; something that brought tears to your eyes."

"I knew you would notice, I was just hoping that the girl didn't," Scully stated.

"So are you going to keep me in suspense?"

"You'll never believe me if I do tell you," Scully sighed, "I can hardly believe it myself and he knew I would be a skeptic."

"Ok and you're still not telling me…why?" he asked.

"Because, William Blake told me he was our son," Scully stated tears in her eyes once again.

"That's impossible, he's playing games with you," Mulder stated angrily, "I told the girl to lay off that subject!"

"Mulder he has your eyes, my father's smile," Scully stated.

"Our son disappeared, he would only be eleven or twelve," Mulder stated.

"I know," Scully stated, "and I told him that, but he let me draw blood, I have it in the freezer ready to be tested against ours. I can't help but believe him-he has accounted for everything. More abduction, more tests, and a lost childhood that was brought back to his memories through hypnotherapy, it sounds all too familiar and after what we have seen and been through I can't help but believe him. You, yourself, have tried to prove to me that lost time is possible."

"Well that sounds like me," Mulder stated.

"If you can be raised from the dead after nearly a year, then why couldn't he be aged prematurely?" Scully asked. "We knew from the very beginning that William was special. He talked about his desire to go into medicine and the bureau, he told me of his own experiments with his own DNA and he told me that the attack that caused Abigail's hospital visit was not meant for her but rather that he was the one attacked and was the aftermath."

"So he's immune to the radiation?" Mulder asked.

"So it would seem," Scully stated.

"Then he's the perfect soldier," Mulder said lost in his own thoughts.

"He follows Abigail to protect her," Scully stated, "and yes he is madly in love with her."

"And she hardly acknowledges his presence," Mulder sighed, "poor kid."

"I really think we have stumbled onto something important here," Scully stated, "he's always been our missing link."

"I'll believe it when I see the test results," Mulder stated. "But if it is true, then we have to fight for our son's sake."

"I know," Scully sighed and leaned her head on Mulder's shoulder.

"I know you want it to be true, Dana, but please wait until we can be certain." Mulder said as he stroked the side of her face.

Dana nodded her agreement and silence fell between the two former FBI agents.


	12. Stop

Chapter 12: Stop

The animosity between William and Abigail grew with every passing mile. They neither spoke to each other nor looked at each other. The silence in the car grew like a storm waiting for the moment when it would thunderously erupt and the growing fight would be epic.

Abigail was hurt, disappointed, and filled with disbelief at the things that her idol had said to her. Mulder hadn't been of any help. He didn't tell them anything she didn't already know and she was sure he was wrong about the measures she had taken to keep all of her work a secret. She was angry and the need to take it out on someone was growing stronger with every passing moment, as she sat in the back seat of the car with only the X-files to comfort her.

William was boiling with anger as well; he couldn't believe that Abigail could be so rude in the pursuit of her beliefs. She was wrong to have demanded so much and expected so much of people she didn't even know and he realized just how low he ranked in her esteem. She felt like she was protecting him, and he wished he could tell her what really happened out in that field but the news would crush her. She would never trust him again if he blurted out the truth about himself and his genetics. William had hoped that Mulder and Scully would talk her out of this crazy crusade that maybe just maybe he would be able to enjoy what little time he had left before everything blew up in his face. Soon he would have to do what his brain was telling him was his destiny. William was indeed the missing link and he knew that protection was his destiny. He had the ability to stop the colonization because he knew what their weaknesses were and he could tell who among the living were stronger beings and could fight. Every person has a fuse built into them and he knew that one day all of man kind would stand up against the colonies that were coming to attack them. He just had to lay low until that day arrived or else all would be lost if he did not make it to the final battle.

William slammed on the brakes causing Abigail to lurch forward in her seat as the car came to a sudden and unplanned stop.

"What the hell are you doing?" Abigail yelled before anything registered with her.

"We have company!" William stated as he watched two black unmarked cars block the road in front of him and two more pull up behind him.

Eight men dressed in black suits with black sunglasses and all carrying automatic weapons came up to the car and began to force William and Abigail out of the vehicle. _How cliché, William thought to himself._

"We're agents with the Federal Bureau of Investigation!" Abigail yelled as she was forced against the car and handcuffed. Her weapon was thrown into the ditch and her badge was tossed on the back seat as the G-men did the same to William and searched the vehicle.

"What did Mulder give you?" one man asked as he aimed his weapon at William's head.

"We weren't there long enough to get anything from him," William stated.

"Wrong answer," the man stated, and kneed William in the abdomen, causing him to buckle under the pain and fall to the ground.

"Those are my files!" Abigail yelled as she watched the men toss the boxes out of the back of the car and scatter the paper all over the highway.

"What did Mulder give you?" The man guarding Abigail persisted, aiming his weapon at her head.

"He didn't give us anything!" Abigail stated bracing herself for the blow.

Abigail was hit in the side of the head with the butt of the man's gun and was lowered into the back seat of the car.

The rest of the vehicle was searched; the seats ripped to reveal the stuffing and every inch was investigated before the men placed the cuff key on the roof of the car and leaned William against it.

"Don't ever go back to that house. Don't ever look for Mulder again or you will not live to see the light of another day," The man holding William hissed into his ear. "If you value your life and the life of your pretty little partner you'll do as we say." He added and left William bent over the hood of the car.

The four unmarked vehicles sped off leaving William and Abigail in the middle of nowhere, their weapons sunk in two feet of ditch water, Abigail passed out, and handcuffed in the back seat and all of their files scattered and blowing in the wind.


	13. Ruin

Chapter 13: Ruin

Abigail didn't stir until William unlocked the handcuffs that held her captive. Her eyes fluttered open and she tried to rise but the pains in the side of her head cause sever vertigo and she fell limp into William's arms.

"What happened?" Abigail whispered.

"Don't move," William stated as he checker the area of her head that had been hit.

"Where did they go?" she asked.

"They left," William stated and moved out of the vehicle again.

"Where are you going?" Abigail stated as she tried to follow him.

"Stay in the car!" he yelled warningly as he edged his way into the ditch where his gun had landed and fished it out.

"What about my files?" Abigail yelled.

"Just leave them!" he said angrily as he walked to the other side of the road and down into the other ditch.

William emerged soaking wet but he had retrieved both of their FBI issued weapons. He threw them both on the passenger seat and put the car into gear and floored it.

"William! My files!" Abigail yelled as she watched the wind blow the papers into the fields. "Stop the car this instant!" she demanded.

"No!"

"That my life's work!" She creamed and began to claw her way into the front seat.

"Is it really worth your life?" William asked as he shoved her back into the back seat and continued to speed down the highway. "If you didn't already guess, Mulder was right. I don't know who those guys were but they had more authority than we did cause they didn't give a shit that we were FBI agents."

Abigail was silent as her anger and frustration boiled within her.

"We've also been threatened, so I hope you don't ever want to go back to see Mulder and Scully," he added seething with anger.

"They can't do this!" Abigail screamed, "We have to go back! Take me back right now! I need those files!"

"No!" William yelled, "I'm soaking wet, my weapon isn't usable, my gut huts like hell, I had to climb over my car with my hands behind my back to get at the cuff keys, I was held at gun point and we are being followed again. Don't think for a second that you are going to convince me to go back and risk my life again for those goddamn files!"

"So that's it? You're done?" She asked tears burning down her face.

"Yes, I'm done! I've had enough of this bullshit!" William stated.

"At the first sign of adversity you're just going to give up?" Abigail asked her voice rising with emotion, "I expected so much more from you. I expected you would go to any lengths to find the truth."

"We found the truth!" William yelled back. "And it lead us into being threatened by the same men that Ruined Mulder's career. Are you willing to risk that for the proof of alien life?"

"It's not about proof anymore it's about saving the world!" Abigail yelled.

"It's about you!" William stated, "it's not about the world, it's about you making a name for yourself and being hailed as a savior of the human race. No! I am not doing this anymore. I am not going to stand by and watch you ruin your life, my life and anyone who holds you near to their hearts. You are going to kill your father if you keep this up because if you want to keep going this was just the beginning."

"I'm not going to give up just because I have been threatened once!" Abigail stated. "I have to fight!"

"I don't!" William stated his anger at its breaking point, "I'm done and so help me God so are you!"

"You can't stop me!" Abigail stated as she fell back into the ruined back seat.

"Oh yes I can," William stated and continued on his way.


	14. Tests

Chapter 14: Tests

The following morning Scully awoke as per usual to head into the hospital to start her day. Mulder slept soundly as she busied herself with making her coffee, and preparing her self to be presentable and professional. She had gotten used to the day to day routine that the hospital had given to her life and though she had taken the job under the pretext of primarily being a doctor of pediatric care, she had also taken on a lesser roll as researcher. Lucky for her, she now had all that she would need to continue her research and genetic analysis that was now plaguing her mind. She pulled from the freezer the vile of William's blood, as well as a sample that Mulder had given her, and with her coffee and her brief case she set out for the hospital.

Scully arrived at St. Mary's before the sun had fully risen and made her way directly to the lab-she wanted to get a head start on the DNA tests so that she may have some answers before the day was out. She wouldn't be starting her rounds until nine in the morning and so she had plenty of time to run her own blood and that of Mulder's against the sample she had taken from William. She also planned to run a few other tests that would take a little longer than the paternity and maternity tests that she had planned to give Mulder as the proof he wanted. As far as Scully was concerned, she believed that the young man as indeed her son and she saw the resemblances ever more clearly as she had gone through photos from her families past. The resemblance between William and her brothers, in their younger days was uncanny, and Scully smiled as the calmness of knowing came over her. But for Mulder, the truth needed to be more tangible and specific. He needed to see the paper, the undoubted proof that he and William were biologically connected. Until that time, Mulder would go on believing that the young man was a liar and just digging into a family history to get what he wanted.

As she set about her work she stopped to draw her own blood, something she hadn't had to do in a long time. She wrapped a tourniquet around her arm, to make the vein more visible and punctured her skin with a syringe to draw her own blood. As she watched the vile fill with the bright red liquid she began to speculate on some of the information William had given her. What was really going on among all those tiny cells? What had been done to them in all her time with the X-files and all the tests that had taken place on her body? There had been so many strange and unexplainable things that she had been exposed to, how had they affected her blood on such a biochemical level? She had never thought to test her own biological material, it had been done by so many before her, but now the questions had been raised and she would run her own blood through the multitudes of tests that she had run on the other samples she had gathered. Mulder's would also fall pray to her tests and as such, and because he had not stated otherwise, Scully was ready to run all of the tests on the family blood she had before her. When the vile attached to her arm was filled she removed it, along with the syringe and tourniquet from her arm and continued on with her work.

By seven in the morning Scully had started all of the tests, and was ready to carry on her day. She left the chemicals and proteins to do their work as she found her way into her office. Her patient files were neatly stacked on one corner of the desk and her iMac dozed waiting to be booted up and put to use. The day would prove to be one of regular routines: patient visits, tests, and condolences, but for now Scully's mind was preoccupied with thoughts of the son she had lost years ago. She wondered for a moment, as she sipped her now cold coffee and watched as the sun moved across the sleepy world, what things in her life would have been like had she kept the baby. Would she have been able to stop what had happened to William and give him a childhood? Or was he destined for the lost time that he had suffered to save the human race? Billions of people lived in the world and to think that one man, a young man, could save the world was a bit of a stretch for Scully, but if there were answers in his blood she was determined to find them.

Scully went about her business, busying herself with new patients and up-coming surgeries as the morning faded away from her and her mind wandered away from the tasks at hand. Soon the answers to some of her questions would be visible in the chemistry that she preformed, but for now she had to be the doctor that her new life had dictated, and other patients and their illnesses had to come before her questions.


	15. Struggles

Chapter 15: Struggles

Abigail and William had gone back to their motel in high discontent with one another and parted ways as they separated into their own rooms. William wanted to go back to the woman who held his heart and apologize for the way he had spoken to her, but he knew that her retort would be very severe. Abigail was the kind of woman that held onto her anger. She would not be in any condition to hear his apologies until at least tomorrow. He had taken the car keys with him, knowing that she would take the car back out to that stretch of highway and try to retrieve as many of her files as she could, but he wasn't going to stand for that. He knew her too well than to let her go looking for trouble, and in her anger, she was more prone to do stupid things.

William was also unsure as to what he really wanted to say to her. Much of what he had said out on the highway, he had been thinking for a long time. All of the anger, all of the concessions he had made for her all those years had come out in one fell swoop. He knew the time of his destiny was drawing near, and yet there was something deep down inside that said ignore it, move on, become a doctor and do what you really want. Following the X-files was not what he had planned for the rest of his life and with his blow up and the governmental threats that had just come to pass he saw it as an opportunity to actually get out.

"Maybe this is for the better," William said to himself as he turned off the light and fell into bed.

A soft knock was heard at his door after a considerable pause and got up to see who it was.

"Were you sleeping?" Abigail asked not raising her eyes from the ground.

"I had just laid down," William said as he stood before her topless, wearing nothing but his boxers. Just seeing Abigail brought the anger back to him and he all of a sudden didn't want to give into her as he had so many times before.

"Can we talk?" Abigail asked still standing in the doorway, her dark hair a mess of tangles as she stood in her oversized university sweater and men's pajama pants.

"What do you want to talk about?" William asked as he leaned on the door frame.

"Can I come in please?" she asked.

William paused for a moment watching her stand nervously before him, her eyes ever cast to the ground, "whatever," he hissed and moved back into the room leaving the door open for her.

"You're really angry, aren't you?" Abigail asked as she watched him fall into the bed. She closed the door behind herself and took a seat in one of the room's horrible floral arm chairs.

"Very good deduction, Agent Ventallo," William stated as he piled the pillows up on the bed and leaned against the head board.

"I'm sorry," Abigail stated, "I want you to know that I didn't mean what I said. I was angry and I was upset and scared."

William watched her quizzically for a moment, "Ok, so why all of a sudden are you apologizing now? You've never apologized before. You're only apologizing now cause I stood up to you."

"Maybe," Abigail said looking up at him finally, "I feel like I'm loosing you and I need you. I can't do this on my own."

"Sure you can, you've always been capable of following your beliefs and just dragging me along." William stated. "I only exist now because you weren't expecting the backlash or being proven wrong by Mulder. Now that things have turned dangerous you don't want to be facing it alone."

"Do you blame me?" Abigail asked, her eyes pleading with him now.

"Yes I do!" William said; he didn't know where his anger was coming from, "I do blame you for a lot of things. I've been nothing but chivalrous and supportive all this time, but you never gave two shits, and I have been through as much as you have for years."

"I had no idea you felt this way," Abigail stated.

"Cause you're oblivious most of the time," William sighed.

"So it wasn't just today? You've been feeling this way for a long time?" she asked.

"Yeah," he answered.

"I'm so sorry William," Abigail whispered her emotions taking their toll.

"Don't cry," William stated, realizing that he had really made her upset. "It's not really that big of a deal."

"But it is," Abigail sobbed, "this job is just so stressful, and I know I have brought a lot of it on myself but I need you. You keep me grounded, you question my ideas and you silently support me all the time. The thought of not having you scares me."

"There will be others that support you," William deadpanned, not knowing what else to say.

"I don't want anyone else," she said in a small voice. She moved toward the bed and crawled over to where William had resumed his seat. "I need you," Abigail whispered in his ear.

Abigail backed up to look at William, and smiled a seductive smile, before she playfully pushed him off the bed. She followed, practically jumping on him, forcing his back against the wall. Then she forced her lips to his hungrily, her hands grasping his neck, and tugging the hair at the back of his head. William had hardly realized what hit him, he just knew that he enjoyed this new perk, and as his anger dissipated, he made a mental note to piss Abigail off more often, smiling against her lips as they crushed together.

Abigail's lust was animalistic, and she was enthused that William reciprocated as she became bolder, allowing her hands to roam freely over his body, and grinding her hips into his. William ripped furiously at Abigail's clothes, and looked at her with a satisfied grin once he'd removed her sweatshirt and she'd wiggled out of her pants to reveal her lingerie underneath; though he didn't have much time to appreciate it the way he would have liked, as Abigail had no sooner gotten undressed than she was already pushing herself into William once again.

Abigail raised her right leg around William's hip, and he answered this by reaching his hands down to her ass and lifting her up, wrapping her left leg around his other hip, causing her to moan with pleasure. William's lips never left Abigail's as he moved toward the bed, throwing her down, spreading her legs, grinding himself down roughly against her pelvis, and teasing her breasts through the fabric of her bra. Abigail pushed William away, and swiftly turned the tables- she forced him onto his back as she had been just seconds earlier, and rolled on top of him without even untangling her legs from behind his back. She lifted her head and smiled at him, intriguing him, leaving him wondering what she had planned when he felt her hands reach down his waist and pulled his boxers off in one swift motion. William reached at the cute little ribbons that held Abigail's underwear together and pulled on them simultaneously, smirking at the ease with which she had granted him access. Their tongues continued to dance in and out of each other's mouths, and William snaked his fingers through Abigail's hair, grabbing handfuls as he went, then trailing his fingers down her back until they reached the bra clasp that he expertly undid, causing Abigail's bra to slide down her shoulders and reveal her perfectly formed breasts. William moved his hands down to cup Abigail's breasts and she sighed as he began to massage them; Abigail couldn't wait any longer, and lifted herself up enough to allow William to penetrate her, moaning loudly as she went, and his breath caught in his throat.

It wasn't long before William could tell Abigail was getting ever closer to climaxing, so he reached his hand down to help her along. Abigail started grinding against his hand faster and faster, until she was finally thrown over the edge in a fit of powerful tremors and satisfying moans that coursed through her body as she reached her release. She could tell William was close too- his thrusts came closer and closer together, until he too exploded in his own fit of pleasure. Abigail was exhausted from the intense workout, and pressed her head down onto William's chest, panting. She could feel William's chest heaving beneath her, and they both smiled sweetly at each other in silent thanks. Still in each other's arms, they lifted the covers over their bodies, closed their eyes, and allowed sleep to sweep over them.


	16. Back to Reality

Chapter 16: Back to Reality.

Morning dawned and brought with it the awkwardness of knowing what the young agents had done the previous night. In the tides of passion they had spent the night reconciling, or rather, masking their differences and their disagreements with emotional baggage that would follow them through the rest of their careers. What did it all mean for them, and why, in the throws of anger did they allow their well-guarded feelings for each other get the better of them.

When William stirred, and pulled himself from the bed, he looked over at the soundly sleeping woman who laid in his bed. She meant more to him than she could possibly know, and in their passion he believed that he had ruined any chances he may have had to show her what she really meant. What they'd shared had been nothing more than animalistic last, spurred on by their anger. William took himself off to the shower to wash away the feelings of guilt that he now felt.

Hearing the running water awoke Abigail, and for a moment she was unaware of where she was or what had happen, then seeing her clothing on the floor she remembered the anger and the passion that had followed. For the first time in their career she had seen William as more than just her partner and an uncontrollable desire had spurred them on. She rose from the bed, careful to be as quiet as possible, pulled on her oversized shirt and snuck out of the room before William had finished. The moment she left she felt guilt swallow her up. But did she guilty for the sex, or guilty for having ignored him? And now she was avoiding him, and the inevitable awkwardness that would surely follow. No, she couldn't face him just yet—what would she say? She only hoped he wouldn't be too upset when he finished showering to discover that she's stolen away.

As quickly as it had happened it was over. William found his way back into his room and realized that Abigail was gone. He dressed himself in his usual business attire and packed his bags, doing his best not to think about what had transpired between Abigail and himself mere hours ago. The car was parked outside, the keys were still in the pocket of William's soiled blazer, and their time in the motel was soon to be over. William picked up his things, breathed a heavy sigh and closed the door.

At the same moment, Abigail walked out of her motel room, bags in her hands, and moved toward the car.

"You going to deal with check out?" she asked coming nearer and handing him her bags to put in the trunk.

"Sure," he said and took her motel room key.

With all the technicalities taken care of they both loaded themselves into the car, William driving and Abigail moving up in the world to the front passenger seat and they left the scene of their midnight debaucheries.

The silence that took over the car was of course awkward, but welcome, it meant that they didn't have to deal with what they had done, and they hunkered down for the long, quiet ride back to the city, and back to reality. Neither one of them knew what to expect when they went back to the bureau, neither one of them would talk about what had happened or the files that they had lost and neither one of them seemed particularly eager to break the silence that had developed as the road and all their surroundings passed them by.


	17. I Need To Know

Chapter 17: I Need to Know.

Scully's day marched on causing her to forget about the tests she had come in early to run. By mid-day it was clear that her newest patient was going to need emergency surgery and it was not going to be a short surgery. She called Mulder to tell him that she would be home late, changed into her scrubs and made her way to the patient care center from where her patient would soon be removed and sent into pre-op. The surgery was explained in detail to the parents of the little patient, they were left with their sick child for support and filled with fear, and before long, Scully was waiting, fully scrubbed in, with a prepared OR, where she would perform the surgery.

By 7pm the surgery finally came to an end to everyone's relief, it had not gone as well as they had initially intended but they had gotten through it. Scully left all of the clothing she could possibly discard behind because of the biohazard they would cause and went out to greet the waiting parents. She saw them before they saw her and she could tell that their worry was coming to a head. She hated this part of the job, but she knew how they felt, the unknowing feeling of waiting while someone else has taken their child's life into their hands. It was a relief for the parents to see Scully looking so tired and yet she had a smile on her face. She told them the surgery had gone well, that they had run into a small complication but that it was taken care of and that their child was now in post op where they would be able to visit shortly. The parents were thrilled with the news, had questions about the complications but more than anything they just wanted to be with their child again. Scully had been through this routine so many times, it was like a dance she had finally perfected, it was the time when the surgery didn't go as well that she stumbled, but for now things were good, they would wait and see how the child did and Scully hoped that the problems were solved for this family. Scully led the parents into the post op environment; they had put on sterile clothing coverings and were at their child's bed side. Scully smiled at the child to reassure her, left the parents to cry and comfort her, and went to the doctors' locker room to change back into her clothing and leave for the day. It had been a very long day, and still Scully was feeling the same way those parents were. She had tried to put the feeling out of her mind for years, but it had always been there. Her longing for her son, the knowledge of his well being and the hope that everything was alright plagued her, but the eyes of the young man had given her hope. Was he really William their son?

"So, how did it go?" Mulder asked as Scully walked into the locker room, startling her.

"It was long," Scully stated as she sighed and sat down beside him. "Very long and we ran into another problem, so it went longer than it really should have. I'm now exhausted, I want to go home, but I haven't finished my tests yet."

"Then come home," Mulder stated, "the tests can wait till tomorrow. You need a break. You look so tired."

"I need to know Mulder," Scully stated. "I need to know that William is alive, or that we've been lied to. I need to know that we're all on the same page and that we may have a chance for a future with our son. I want to believe that it's him."

"And so do I," Mulder said softly, "but you can't kill yourself over this Dana. The tests will be here tomorrow."

"I'm just going to check on them," Scully said as she pulled the scrub top over her head and pulled a pale pink button-down shirt from in her locker. "There are so many tests that I am planning on running, but at least tonight I may be able to tell you whether or not he is really our child."

"And what if he is?" Mulder asked. "What does that mean then?"

"I don't know what it will mean for you, but for me I will be able to rest easy knowing that I haven't failed completely as a mother. My child could be alive. You of all people know how long I have wanted this, wondered and hoped," Scully stated flustered by his question.

Mulder nodded and left the subject alone. He watched as Scully stared at him for a moment, her look was filled with questions and doubt, but she stared at him for a long time before turning back to her locker and pulling out the dress pants she had been wearing to change out of her scrub pants.

"Why are you here anyway, Mulder?" Scully asked as she changed her pants and pulled her lab coat out of her locker as well.

"I thought we could grab dinner together. I had some business in the city, places to go, havoc to raise and when I got your call, I thought I would just meet you here. Your assistant told me that your surgery was going to be longer than expected and that you would be a while, so I waited," Mulder stated.

"In the doctor's locker room?" Scully laughed.

"No, I was in your office watching porn on your computer," he answered snarkily. "I saw you come out of surgery and go to the parents in the waiting room. I knew this would be the next place I would find you so I came here."

"Dinner sounds nice," Scully said with a tired smile, "but maybe take out would be better. I'm just going to run to the lab for my print outs and then I really just want to go home."

"You're afraid of what the print outs are going to say," Mulder stated knowingly.

"I am," Scully confessed, "but I also just stood through six hours of surgical procedures. My feet are killing me, my back is aching and my eyes feel like they are going to fall out of my head."

"So I'm out of luck on the intimacy front tonight then?" he asked.

Scully laughed, of all the things she could be working on, reading through, prepping for, that was the one thing she absolutely wanted no matter how grueling her day had been, but she wasn't going to give in that easily, oh no, he had to work for it.

"Well, I wouldn't say no to a back rub," She smiled, "and who knows where we'll go from there."

"Take out it is!" Mulder stated as he jumped up from his place on the bench, "Let's get those test results and get the hell out of here!"

Mulder and Scully made their way up to the lab where Scully had started her test that morning. Most of them would not be ready just yet, they would take days, weeks, and months even, but the parental genetic tests she was sure would be done. She had a large enough sample so she knew that she didn't need to let the samples culture before she could run them. She jumped right to step B and as the day progressed the machines did their work. The results simply needed to be sent to the printer and then the 'truth' would be in their hands. Scully sat down at her computer, clicked and typed, and before Mulder could blink the printer hummed and Scully was standing again. She grabbed a large manila envelop from a stack and as the papers came out of the printer upside down she stuck them into the envelope.

"What are you doing?" Mulder asked as he watched her hide the truth.

"This is going to be emotional. I don't want to break down here and have all my coworkers asking me what is wrong. So I am saving it for at home. Does that bother you?" she asked.

"Not at all, if you think you are going to be emotional." He answered.

"Well, inside this envelope is the truth to whether or not the boy is lying or telling the truth. In both cases a lot of emotions are involved." Scully laughed.

"Yeah in one case you'll want to coddle him, in the other you'll want to kill him," Mulder laughed.

"Man, sometimes the not being an agent, and not having a weapon anymore, has its downsides," Scully stated.

"Whoa, whoa G-woman, back off and let the good doctor back out," Mulder stated.

"Now you think I'm schizophrenic?" Scully laughed.

"No!" Mulder stated, "not at all, I just prefer your good doctor act more. It's way sexier."

"But Mulder, before I had handcuffs!" Scully whispered into his ear.

"I love you!" Mulder smiled and kissed her, "you're my favorite!" he added playfully and they made their way out of the hospital finally by nearly 8:30pm.


	18. Work

Chapter 18: Work

Abigail rushed to her cubical as the silent and uncomfortable drive had come to an end and she and William parted ways, still without speaking a word to each other. There had been plenty of time to think in the car, and both young agents had done their fair share, but even though they were thinking about the same things, neither one of them could get up the courage to say anything to the other.

After torturing herself for what seemed like hours on what they had done the night before and the incident that caused such rage and such passion, Abigail moved on and tried to think about where the X-files would take her next. She would have to re-evaluate the way she was conducting her business. She thought she had been careful, that people really didn't care about her but clearly she had stumbled onto something bigger than she anticipated and now she was starting once again from ground zero. Lucky for her, much of her own research and X-file information was neatly catalogued and backed up on her work computer. There wasn't anything personal in them, and she was sure that there were people monitoring her work, but at least it was something that didn't get left behind on the highway in northern Washington.

Abigail's desk was already piled high with files and assignments that she had to finish. Many of them needed to be filed, handed in, reviewed by the board or just concluded. They were all work that she had been involved in with the division of the FBI that she was assigned to and as far as she was concerned they weren't of any interest. Profiling was interesting, reviewing and concluding the cases, not so much. They had been left behind for her work on the X-files and as she found herself more preoccupied with thinking about her next strategy and her mind constantly drifted to William, who occupied the cubicle next to hers, she pushed them aside, or leafed through them absentmindedly. At least it looked like she was working, though she really wasn't getting anything accomplished.

The accusations that William had made that day on the highway had never even dawned on Abigail. She hadn't thought her behaviour toward him had been anything less than professional. For his part, William had always put one hundred percent of himself into his work and he was devoted to the cases that he worked on. He had the mind of a profiler, knew the questions to ask to find the truth, and though he trusted her, he was skeptical of those who tried to pull the wool over his eyes. She had admired him as she came through the academy. They were not in the same class, he was a few years before her time, but he was well known in the medical field there and though he could have been a doctor, he chose to take the assignment in violent crimes around the same time she came into the division herself.

The first time Abigail had seen him, however, had not been among the agents of the academy but rather at a holiday getaway that a bunch of young recruits had planned. Spring break brought the recruits closer to their graduation and the prospects of having to do all that was right, set the good example and serve justice for the rest of their careers, so they had decided that one more crazy party was in order before they all lost their youth to the Bureau. Abigail had been invited by some other agents she had been going through the academy with, and though William was not one of the people that they hung out with on a regular basis, he seemed to have a fun side. Most of his time at Quantico was then spent in running tutorials and assisting the teachers. He had graduated in the top of his class but because of his medical background the bureau held him back to lend his medical expertise to the students and to gain more experience in the forensic sciences that hthey specialized in. He had been invited with a few of the other agents to come on the trip as he was about to be shipped off as well to a new assignment. He had been looking forward to the chance to work as a field agent, although he loved the science and the medical aspects of the career, but he needed to see if he had what it took to be the agent he had always imagined. It was on this trip that they first met. She paid little attention to the agents in the gathering but he had stuck out. He was fun, joyful, looking for adventure. He was athletic, a surfer, why he had decided to take on the FBI was an anomaly, but he was a show off, his skills in the waves were spectacular, and though the women of the group followed his every move and were captivated by the contours of his body, the allure of a man who risked everything just to be on the water evaded Abigail. She rolled her eyes at his stunts, knowing that he was a doctor and a scientist, but she was too preoccupied with her career. This trip was supposed to be a distraction and all she could think about was work, whereas William lived life. He laughed freely, smiled and joked, and showed off his battle scars. At one point in the vacation he had taken a header off his board, crashed into the water and caused most of the women to gasp and scream, but he eventually emerged laughing at himself and bruised from his collarbone to his navel.

"Dude that was rad!" one of his fellow agents gasped, grabbing the board from William as he came out of the surf.

"It was clumsy and embarrassing," William laughed looking at the bruise that had already started to form on his torso, "this is going to hurt tomorrow."

"Don't worry, we'll get you drunk enough tonight that you wont feel the pain at all," another agent laughed.

"Let's do it!" William smiled and they carried on.

William seemed to be the center of attention the whole weekend. He was the best at almost everything. People clamored to have him on their team for beach volley ball. He won copious amounts of money in their evening poker games. William was the first to stand up to tequila shots and the first to laugh freely when he was able to drink the smart asses and wises guys under the table. The one thing, however, that had caught Abigail's attention was his ability to laugh. On that trip he had been free, fun loving, and adventurous. He never laughed now.

"Have I ruined him?" She asked herself as she sat staring at the stack of files on her desk. "Is it my fault he hasn't got any zest for life? He had it last night, but he doesn't have it anymore."

Shortly after their spring break, Abigail graduated from the academy and was shipped off to the heart of the city, to the J. Edgar Hoover building and the violent crimes division of the FBI. She was excited, nervous and ready to prove herself. She was young, smart, vibrant, she could have been a model or a musician but she was stronger than that. She looked down on women in positions like that because they carried on the stereotypes. "I'm not that girl," she had told herself as she walked into the Bureau on her first day and was introduced to her partner. It was William. He had raised a questioning eyebrow to the little girl in the very masculine suit with hair as raven black as the night sky. He had jokingly called her Snow White when they were left alone with their first case and she had hated him for it. She was aware of the palenss of her skin, the sickly complexion she might have had, had her eyes not been a brilliant shade of green and her body not been toned and ready for action.

"That's Agent Ventallo to you, Blondie," She had said angrily.

"Whoa, don't get your knickers in a twist," William laughed.

"That's offensive," she stated flatly.

William gave her another knowing smirk and they got down to the business at hand. They had always been business from that day on and the more they worked together the more they came to know each other. The first case that failed, the first case that went completely correct, the first case that they lost a fellow agent on, all these things they had been together for and though Abigail hadn't noticed it then, there had been a change in William. He just didn't smile anymore.

I've ruined him with my crusade, Abigail thought, It's my fault. He was alive, full of life, full of joy and I've crushed him. He was handsome and smart, he could have had any woman he wanted, he was a doctor and a scientist and I have plagued him with things that he can't explain. Why have I been so cruel? Why didn't I see it before? He knows me so well, he followed me as I order him around, he deals with my anger and my persistence, and all the while I won't even give to him the satisfaction of acknowledging that he is a brilliantly smart man. I deserve to be alone; I can't believe he took it for so long, I can't believe he didn't yell at me before. I have pushed him to his breaking point, taken everything away from him in my pursuit of what? Proving to him that I'm not some little girl, some weakling in need of protection? Does he even think of me in that way? What does he think of me now? Coming into his room, begging for him to listen to me, crying at his anger and then what do I do? I throw him to the ground; I throw myself at him, like that was going to prove anything. I've screwed this all up. I screwed him up. He's better off without me, but can I let him go? Why didn't I apologize properly? Why couldn't I just admit that I was wrong? What have I done?

Abigail was startled out of her thoughts by the opening of an office door. The whole floor hushed as the section chief exited his office through a door that he never used. He never came out to deal with his agents; he only ever sent his assistants, why was he coming out of his office now?

Abigail's heart sank as she watched the section chief walk up to William, whisper something as William stood confusion and worry on his face. She couldn't pull her eyes off of him as he followed the chief back into the office.

"We're doomed," Abigail said to herself and lowered her head to the stack of files on her desk and allowed the tears to flow.


	19. The Offer

Chapter 19: The Offer

William jumped as the section chief of violent crimes tapped on the side of his cubical. He had done everything by the books for his leave to see Mulder and Scully, so he wasn't sure why the section chief himself would come to find him. Had he heard about the incident on the highway? William was nearly certain that information like that wasn't readily shared, but his heart skipped a beat as he stood and addressed the senior agent before him.

"What can I do for you sir?" he asked nervously.

"I have some people that would like a word with you, Agent Blake, if you would please follow me." The section chief stated and waited for William to follow.

The door closed to the rest of the office and silence well as William walked into his senior most officers office and saw the gathering around the board table there. His assistant director was there, the director of the medical academy at Quantico, and several other people he didn't recognize.

"Good to see you again, Doctor Blake," the head administrator for the medical school at Quantico stated as she stood and shook his hand.

"Good afternoon Doctor Holms," William smiled.

"Please have a seat," The section chief stated as he motioned to the empty chair that was across the board table from all the agents and doctors who were clearly his superiors.

William was nervous, but the idea of a disciplinary hearing had left his mind. Why would doctors be present for a scolding? He thought to himself as he sat and the silence fell again. There were too many smiles on the faces of the member of this committee to merit something bad so William just sat, dumbfounded, and tried to let the events of the past few days leave him.

The rustling of papers, the passing of files and the occasional whisper or glance around the room were the only actions that were taking place as William waited and then finally the section chief cleared his throat.

"Doctor Blake," The section chief addressed him in a way that had never left the round bald mans lips before, "we have been very fortunate to have you with us in the Violent Crimes division but as with all good things, this must come to an end. Having a doctor among us has been very rewarding and highly educational. You have shown us aspects of the human condition many of us would not have been able to see because of our lack of medical knowledge. We would like to take this time now to thank you for all of you hard work."

"All in a day's work sir," William said feeling uncomfortable with the praise.

"At this time, Doctor Blake, we have for you a new assignment, should you choose to accept this opportunity." The section chief started again. "The professors and scientists at Quantico are looking for a new instructor and permanent staff member. It would give you the opportunity work in research involving genetics and neurological functions. You would be performing lectures, demonstrations, and teaching as one of their full time staff members, and you will be moving into the roll of primary doctor in charge of autopsies and identification. The benefits of this position surely outweigh any doubts you would have. It comes with a rather substantial pay increase as well."

William's mouth fell open. He couldn't believe what he was hearing. With everything that had happened, the high of his anger, the threats he had made to Abigail, and here was the out he had been looking for. He would be able to move on with his life, make more money, and still be apart of the FBI. His medical training would not be going to waste as it was with his involvement in the crazy antics of his partner, and he would have unlimited access to cadavers for experimentation and genetic research. He could continue looking into the questions he had been posing for himself all these years and the strong pull that he had always felt toward medicine.

My mother is a doctor, he thought as the members of the table continued to stare at him awaiting the answer he would give. What will Abigail say? Will she even care? She'll be overly pissed off if I choose medicine over her X-files, but she doesn't care about what is best for me. It would give me a break, a chance to rediscover myself and chance to just be for a while. The money sounds good and I wouldn't be flying off on while goose chases anymore. I won't be bombarded on an empty highway ever again. I will be my own man; I will be able to get over Abigail. I have to do this for me! And yet, why am I so anxious? Why is she the only person I am thinking about? I love her more than I can say, and I am willing to just leave? Will she follow me? Never, she would never follow me; I'm just another man that she had to prove her superiority too. No, I will do this for me, not for her or for anyone else.

William straightened in his seat. He sat tall, proud, the realization of what his life would be like in the future came into his features, and he allowed himself a smile.

"I'm honored," he said, "I don't know what to say."

"Say you accept!" Doctor Holms stated with a smile. "We have a position available immediately. You can start as soon as you can get to the academy. I would like to see you there tomorrow if that is at all possible."

"Tomorrow it is," William smiled.

The paper work was concluded, the chief and all of the other superior officers welcomed into his new position as a superior himself and he was released back onto the floor or the office.

The moment he was alone the weight of his decision caught up to him. He had accepted a position out side of this building, he would not be around anymore to see her, to hear her complain, to watch her rush blindly into things, it wasn't his duty to protect her anymore and although he had told her that he was finished with her craziness, he doubted the proposal already. It was too late; however, he had signed off on all of his assignments, accepted the pay raise, and was already anticipating his first classes. Abigail would be assigned a new partner before long, and although they were not speaking together William knew that it was up to him to give her the news. He would deal with her wrath, it would be short lived, he hoped, but in the end he was leaving the J. Edgar Hoover Building and the X-files behind. It was not time to move onward toward his fate.


	20. The Moment of Truth

Chapter 20: The Moment of Truth.

Mulder sat on the sofa, the TV playing out the baseball highlights as he waited for Scully. Their take out consisted of Chinese food from one of their favorite little venders near the hospital and a bottle of dry white wine that seemed like a necessity to calm both of their nerves. Scully had slipped away to ditch her business attire for grubby house clothing and to wash the makeup off her face. It had been a long time since she had worried what Mulder thought about her appearance. He didn't care anymore; he had seen more of her than any other living being and had become so comfortable with her that he preferred her makeup free. Scully smiled to herself as she looked at her clean complexion in the bathroom mirror, the lines of age had started to appear there but there was knowledge and wisdom in those lines. She was proud of where she had been and how far she had come. There was a strangely satisfying feeling that came over her as she looked at herself. All of the doubts of her past, the wants and desires that she had long ago felt were gone. She had found happiness, acceptance, and companionship in the least likely place, but now her life had settled into a place she had always hoped it would get to. Mulder made her happy, he had always made her happy, and she did her best to make him feel the same way. They had left much of the darkness behind them, knowing that it would never totally be gone, but that they would face it together, bringing their own light into it and casting it away.

When she finally joined Mulder, she cuddled into him, nuzzled his neck sleepily and accepted the glass of wine that he handed to her.

"You're plan is to get me drunk enough that I forget how tired I am, isn't it?" she asked playfully as she sipped the wine.

"No, I just want to loosen you up a bit," he stated. "As much as I want you, I know you're not going anywhere."

"You're so right," she smiled and accepted the carton of Chinese noodles she had ordered. "What are we watching?" she asked as the baseball highlight ended.

"Shark week," Mulder stated as he pulled her in close to him and enjoyed their dinner and a short interlude provided by the discovery channel.

The manila envelope sat sealed on the coffee table waiting for dinner to be over and half the bottle of wine to be drunk before Mulder and Scully both felt loose enough to endeavor another shock to their system. The evening had wore on, the darkness had completely fallen and as the small mantle clock chimed the lateness of the hour they both sat up and looked at the envelope that stared at them.

"Are you ready for this?" Scully asked as she reached out and picked up the envelope.

"Are you?"

"Not really, but I want to know so badly," she answered.

"And if you are disappointed?"

"I'll cry."

"And if you're not?"

"I'll probably cry then too," she laughed.

Mulder nodded his acceptance of the situation and Scully opened the envelope. She pulled out the computer print outs, and began slowly laying each sheet on the coffee table before them, the story starting to lay itself out in lines and dotes, all in black and white, right before their eyes.

Once all of the papers were out before them and a long silence had come between them, Mulder reached out and took Scully's hand. He had noticed the shock, the fear; her sadness, the hope and every other emotion come into Scully's eyes.

"Explain it to me, Dana," he whispered into her ear as he wrapped his arms around her.

"You are his father," she whispered back and pointed at the matching bars in the print outs.

Scully felt him tense beside her. He wanted to believe so badly and yet was he questioning the validity of her tests. Did he not want this? Or had he been so sure it was a lie? She was caught up in the emotions as she continued to scan the results that were laid out before her.

"You are his mother then, right?" Mulder whispered.

"Yes I am," Scully answered as tears rolled down her cheeks. "He's been robbed of twenty something years of his life, Mulder, what is to become of him?"

"The better question is, what is he that he has been so important that his time in this world has been so short?" Mulder asked as he leaned back into the couch.

"The wheels in your head are spinning," Scully said drying her tears and looking deep into his eyes she leaned into him again.

"We've always known we were deeper into this than we should have been. What has been done to us, what experiments that have caused us to have a child that is so very important to the survival of the human race?" he asked.

"We've been subjected to hundreds of thousands of things, who knows which are the important ones," Scully stated.

Mulder fell silently into his thoughts. He had been searching for this kind of proof all his life and when it had been presented to him he wanted to be a skeptic, but the boy really was his son, a son who was now impossibly old for the reality of their situation, and yet Mulder had always believed in abduction, believed in lost time and disappearances without ever loosing hope that someday the person would be found. He had seen people come out of comas, loose their way and find them without knowing how and even been replaced without memory so why did it seem so impossible for it to happen to his son?

"You aren't going to do anything crazy are you Mulder?" Scully asked.

"Define crazy," he stated playfully.

"Mulder, I'm serious, what are you planning? I have seen this look in you too many times before to know that you can't not be planning something."

"I have more question then I have answers, Scully, I need to find some of these answers and I think the only way to do so will be to talk to the boy," Mulder stated lazily. "Don't worry; I'm not going anywhere tonight. I'm staying right here."

"You had better, cause I just don't have the stamina today to chase after you." Scully yawned.

"So, how are you feeling about this, momma?" Mulder asked as he watched a content, and yet, sleepy Scully cuddle into him. He had expected her to be more emotional, to want to react to the news in some way or another but she was calm, like knowing that it had changed something.

"I knew he wasn't lying," she stated, "he has too much of a resemblance to you and to my father. And he looked like my youngest brother when he was that age. It's uncanny and kind of creepy actually, but something told me that he was telling the truth."

"Your motherly instinct I presume," Mulder laughed.

"It must have been," she smiled and they remained together as the evening progressed.


	21. Are We In Trouble?

Chapter 21: Are We in Trouble?

Abigail couldn't hold in her curiosity. She had seen William leave with the section chief and was waiting in anticipation for over and hour before he returned to his desk. He didn't look any better; she couldn't tell if he was upset or pleased, William only sported a deadpan kind of look as he took his place back in his cubicle. They had not yet broken the uncomfortable silence but if he was being reprimanded for anything that they may have done on their leave of absence then she needed to know. When William was settled into his cubicle and several aching minutes ticked by at a snails pace, she just could not handle it anymore and rushed to his side.

"Are we in trouble?" she whispered into his ear, startling him.

"No, we're fine," William said, "the chief doesn't know anything about the men on the highway or if he does, he wasn't saying anything to me about it."

"Then why were you called in there?" she asked.

"It's about a case that we are actually assigned to," he snapped.

"Alright," she stated taken aback by his shortness. "Which case?"

"The Oklahoma City Copy Killer," William lied.

"We wrapped up that case months ago," Abigail said leaning on the edge of his desk. "It was a really big one for us, but nothing overly important."

"Yeah, he wants me to give a lecture on it for the new students at Quantico," William lied again. "As it was one of my biggest cases and the brake came because of my profile, so he wants me to talk about my reasoning and profiling skills when looking at copy cat killers."

"Good for you," Abigail said and put a hand on his shoulder, "you deserve it." she added trying to be supportive. "You did a really great job on that case, who better to talk about it to the youngins than you?"

"We'll see," William sighed. "I doubt I am going to be a very good teacher."

"You were doing fine when I was still in the academy," she stated.

"I was just a teaching assistant then, not an actual lecturer," he stated surprised that she actually remembered those days.

"Either way, I'm sure you'll do a great job. You have the experience to back you up now."

Abigail smiled at him. She genuinely felt happy for the honor that the chief had bestowed on him. She had always looked up to William, she knew that much, but she wasn't sure why it had taken so long for her to really see him. Even now she wasn't sure she was seeing clearly. Something deep insider her told her, that it was a big deal and if she wanted to make things up to him, it wouldn't be through a night of meaningless sex. She had to take some kind of a stand, an interest in his achievements, she knew this, and she would have to try to put the distractions out of her mind. She wanted things to work out, but the idea of the apocalypse still plagued her.

As Abigail turned and returned to her cubical, William sighed hesitantly. He had just lied flat out to his partner of five years, someone whom he had trusted explicitly for most of that time. It wasn't like he didn't have secrets, oh no, he had been keeping things from her for years, things that he really never wanted her to know, but at the same time he wasn't sure that he had ever told a bold face lie like that and he had a strange haunting feeling that it would come back to bite him in the ass. He knew that he had to tell her the truth; he had resolved to do so as soon as he had stepped out onto the floor again, so why had he made up such a careless lie, one that she seemed to believe and even tried to be supportive of.

William sighed audibly to himself as he replayed the events of the day and the previous night. His life seemed to have gone to hell and back all at once and now he was standing at a crossroads, unable to tell the woman he loved that he was leaving. He was confused by her behaviour. They had not spoken to each other, had not breached the conversation that really should have happened but she seemed pleased when he lied to her, like she was trying to be supportive, trying to make up for something. Did she subconsciously know that he was lying and leaving her?

You have to talk to her about this, he thought to himself as he stared at the immaculately organized surface of his desk. He was meticulous, he was organized and he hated that his life had been, for so long in sheer chaos. Not here, don't tell her here and upset her, it's not a matter of office gossip, it's your life and your love. You'll have to tell her tonight, tell her everything and make sure it is the truth, or you may risk loosing her forever, although you've already risked that by taking another job. She doesn't care about you enough to follow you, it's not in her personality, but you owe her this much, you owe her the truth about your leaving and that's it. Do I tell her about myself, my life, the freak that I really am? No, just tell her you lied to her; tell her you are sorry, but that you can't do this anymore. Tell her last night was a mistake, that you should have never shared in that passion, that you should have never let yourself loose control. Just tell her that you are sorry, that you are sorry that anything happened between you, and that you felt the need to lie to her about your promotion. She'll hate you for sure, but you have to do it, William told himself as he stared blankly at the computer scene.

Tomorrow there would be no sitting at this desk or looking at the computer, he would be a doctor by morning and onto a totally different path in his life. Maybe this time he would be able to find answers, happiness, or at least acceptance. Maybe he would be able to be happy again.


	22. Last Night Together

Chapter 22: Last Night Together.

William walked slowly through the halls of the J. Edgar Hoover building on his way out to the parking lot. He had stayed behind, later than he would normally stay, as Abigail and the rest of his colleagues in the violent crimes section went back to their cozy houses and their happy lives. He waited for his colleagues to leave to not break the lie he had told his partner and once she was out of the office he began to gather up his things. The truth was that he didn't know when he would be coming back to the building. He had accepted the position at Quantico, and was shipping off to the training facility the next morning. There would be no other time to clear out his desk and the next morning the news would flood the office. Abigail would know that he lied to her and he didn't know if he was still angry enough to let things go like that.

William was plagued with truths and lies that had begun to fill his life. He had accepted the job flat out, without a second though, and without consideration of Abigail. He had considered her for his own needs but never what it would mean for her, not how she would take it or if she could handle being left on her own. His anger was still very new, having been through something that he had only thought happened in the movies. It had been a ridiculous situation, one of pure aggressive authority, and threatening. William couldn't put that experience out of his mind. He had joined the FBI to be the authority, but clearly his world was a clouded one. There were always others out there that were above the law. He was also angry with himself for losing control at her touch, for craving it, and accepting the passionate advances. He should have stopped it, kicked her out of his hotel room and just let it be, but he had let Abigail initiate things. He had let his anger and desperation come to that; one night of passion and who knew however more mornings of awkwardness. Their relationship as partners was ruined, he was glad he had an escape because he would not be able to work with her anymore if all they felt was awkwardness. He was pissed off, but it had felt so damn good and now he had to live with the knowledge that it didn't mean anything. Neither one of them were thinking about the consequences then, and neither one of them had mentioned a single thing once it was over. There was no meaning in any of it, just as his feelings and his love for Abigail had gone on for years meaning nothing to anyone but him.

William made his way to his car, got in and began driving. He knew that it was now or never, he would have to find Abigail and tell her what was happening and he knew if she was still going to try and avoid things there was only one place she would go, because it would be the one place she would never go otherwise. He pulled away from the building and headed into the posh part of town where Abigail had purchased an overly expensive and completely neglected condo. That was where she would be hiding.

Abigail paced her apartment. It was a beautifully decorated sky rise apartment that should have been in the pages of Better Homes and Gardens because of its immaculate condition, and yet Abigail felt uncomfortable and unbelievably alone in it. She always felt alone as she looked out the windows that had captivated her in the first place and saw all the lights and the life of the city spread out before her. She had paid big money to obtain the place and decorated it exactly as she wanted it, everything in its proper place, everything clean and beautiful, but she never stayed in it. The refrigerator was empty-the only food was the take out she had brought with her on her escape-and the toothbrush and toothpaste in her bathroom were still in their packaging. It was as if it were a movie set waiting to be used, or a staged home ready to be sold, but it was actually Abigail's primary residence. This place, more than anywhere else, made her feel insignificant and foolish, like she had given up the chance at life, for the chance to prove herself worthy of something better and the rooms that remained empty were because she was too preoccupied with work to have a life.

She hardly ever spent time looking out at the incredible cityscape view she had, or even answered the phone that she wasn't sure why she was even paying for it. No one ever called, no one ever visited, and she hardly ever slept in this foreign place, but today it seemed like the place to go. William knew her too well, he knew all of her hiding places, frequent haunts and though she was feeling lonely, she wasn't sure that he was the person that she wanted. Or was he? Confusion plagued her mind. The sex was good, so good, but it meant nothing. She had never acted in such a way before, never had sex under such circumstances and though she had not been a stranger to a little fun in her youth, sex and her career just didn't seem to go hand in hand.

"At least you still know what you're doing," she said to herself as she resumed her pacing. Not like the sex wasn't good and she got exactly what she wanted out of it, she felt completely void of emotion, the satisfaction only came in knowing that it would probably never happen again.

Why was it so hard all of a sudden to talk to William about that moment of passion and escape? Why couldn't she feel anything before, for William, and now all of a sudden she felt too much? What had they done and was the truth really worth the ruining the friendship over? Was there really a friendship between them? Was there anything between them that wasn't work, or better yet, did she want anything more than that? If she didn't, then why was she so upset when he had gotten so angry?

Abigail's world was falling apart; she came to realize just how much she really relied on William for her moral support. He had never argued or yelled at her, he may have joked or voiced his opinions on how little she took care of herself, but he was never cruel or demanding. He was always there to help her out, pick her up, or even rescue her when she was getting into too much trouble. She jumped into things, and he caught her when she stumbled, and never before had she worried about not being caught. Most of her arrogance and confidence came from the fact that he was always around and now what had she done? Here she was, alone in the condo that she never used, avoiding the one person that always made her feel better because he was the reason she was feeling guilty and lonely.

"Why do I always fuck shit up?" She asked herself out loud as the tears began to roll down her cheeks.

She paced the length of the living space, consisting mainly of the office and the sitting room. The desk was large, mahogany wood, and it was centered with the windows behind it, brass paperweights on the tabletop, and a tiffany lamp made up the groupings of office items, while the suede sofa, glass coffee table and cashmere throws were inviting, vibrant, colourful, and above all it would have been a warm and comfortable family living space, but in the darkness it was all just shades of grey and Abigail didn't find any comfort in any of it.

Suddenly there was a knock at her door that startled her and shook her out of her reverie. She walked slowly toward the door, trying not to make a sound; she didn't want anyone to know she was there. What if Mulder was right, what if someone had followed her to her apartment? Where was her weapon? She thought and planned and allowed her stress and her imagination get the better of her as she looked through the peephole and saw the one person she never thought she would see at her door.

"Do I really want him here?" she asked herself as she fell against the wall right next to the door.

Of course she wanted him; she wanted him so badly it hurt. She wanted to reach out, grab him, kiss him, throw him to the floor in the hallway of the overly expensive condo building and fuck him right there, rough and dirty. Every ounce of passion and lust that she had felt last night had reappeared all at once in the form of a blush, just to see him at her doorstep. All of her questions and concerns melted away. Feeling particularly uninhibited and somewhat exhibitionist, she allowed her thought to drift back to fucking William in the hall, not caring if anyone saw or heard her passion. Because she wanted it. She wanted him. But would he want her?

"What are you doing here?" she asked as she opened the door and peeked out.

"We need to talk," he stated not daring to look at her.

"We had plenty of time to talk," Abigail stated haughtily as she swung the door full open. "Why now? Why when I am trying to avoid you do you come to the one place that I thought you would never go?"

"Because things have changed," William said finally raising his eyes to hers, "I knew you would be here, because I know you better than I know myself."

With these words Abigail couldn't take it anymore. She reached out and grabbed him, she shoved him against the wall as she had last night in the hotel room, pushed her body into his, tearing at his clothes, and sloppily mashing her lips into his with passion and fervor.

William kissed back, it was hot and wet, it was unbelievable, and it was exactly what he had wanted. He kicked the door closed behind him as they fell into her condo, tossing articles of clothing every which way, the windows of the luxury condo opening up behind them as the city played witness to the passion that they shared.

When only their underwear remained, William hoisted Abigail up onto the surface of the mahogany desk. With one swift movement, everything on the desk was swept to the floor, and Abigail pulled hungrily at the waistband of her lover's boxers not caring about the priceless antiques or the expensive articles that were now the silent victims of rough fornication.

"Wait," William said catching her hands, breathing heavily. He pulled away from Abigail, asking, "is this really what you want?"

"Do we really need to analyze this?" Abigail growled pulling her hands free. "Not really," William responded. "Then just shut up and fuck me," she said with feigned politeness, pulling off his boxers. He grinned at her seductively, before grabbing her roughly and spinning her around, throwing her onto the desk, slipping off her underwear and entering her from behind. She let out a whimper, and began thrusting herself back and forth against his hips, allowing his full length to fill her, to reach deep into her core. William hadn't planned to stay, and although he felt like he was taking advantage by fucking Abigail before he dropped the bomb, he'd so enjoyed himself the previous night when Abigail had been in control that he justified the sex this time by taking what he wanted like Abigail had done to him. William gripped Abigail's hips and continued to press himself firmly into her tightening vagina, then reached one of his hands down, and pressed two fingers into the throbbing nub of her clitoris. Abigail let out a loud moan to which William smiled, and continued to press with increasing force and thrust with an increasing pace until Abigail contracted violently deep within, screaming William's name as she went. William just continued his vigorous pace, grunting with each thrust, until he too pulsed with pleasure. William pulled away from Abigail, who then turned to face him, allowing her hands to roam all over his body. William grabbed Abigail by the wrists and smiled seductively before crushing his lips to hers hungrily, slipping his tongue smoothly into her mouth, all while pushing her back toward the inviting curved leather chaise just under the window. He pushed her down again, this time much more savagely, taking her nipple in his mouth as he landed on top of her, and biting down. Abigail yelped, but still managed to reach her fingers through William's hair, pulling his face tightly to her breast. William switched back and forth between each of Abigail's breasts nipping and sucking, rolling the taught skin of her nipples between a finger and thumb, squeezing the soft, sensitive flesh of her breasts forcefully with his hands. Then he just... stopped. Abigail mumbled something incoherently and bucked her hips, hoping that William would get the message that she needed the friction. William simple gave her a provocative smile, before disappearing below her waist, where he began an agonizingly slow exploration of her sensitive folds. He knew Abigail would be perfectly happy to finish off right there and then, possibly starting round three, but William wasn't ready for it to be over quite yet, and because he knew how badly she wanted it, he felt all the more motivated to withhold the ultimate pleasure.

William reached one finger down to Abigail's labia, stroking the outer folds with light, brief touches, spreading her wetness around. Anytime Abigail bucked her hips, William withdrew his finger and started the slow torturous process all over again, flicking his finger up and down her outer folds, teasing her. When a finger began to explore her inner folds, Abigail thrust her pelvis toward his finger, and once again William withdrew it. Abigail let out a sigh of frustration, making William feel quite pleased with his accomplishments. He started again, slow strokes, then teased her entrance. He removed his hand again, this time reaching his thumb up to flick and rub her prominent clitoris in slow, merciless circles.

"What do you want me to do?" William asked. Abigail's head was swimming- she'd forgotten how to form words, and let out some garbled expression that could only pass as a sentence in her mind.

"What do you want me to do?" William urged.

"I... uhh... I..." William pushed his thumb into Abigail's clitoris with slightly more force.

"I want..."

"Tell me what you want."

"I want, I want...just... fuck me!" Abigail yelled.

"How?" William slid a finger past Abigail's entrance while he pressed her clitoris.

"Fingers," she replied.

William began running his fingers in and out of Abigail's folds, then allowed two fingers to penetrate the warm, moist area with her thighs which was welcomed with a moan. William starting pumping, slowly at first, then increased his pace, then slowed down again, not wanting Abigail to climax too quickly.

"Shit William, please just fuck me!" Abigail begged.

William inserted a third finger and started to pump faster and faster and at the same time as he pressed his thumb into her clitoris with force, he curled his fingers inside Abigail's vagina hitting her pleasure center, causing her to thrust her hips wildly against his fingers as she climaxed in violent waves of pleasure so intense she cried as she came. William slid back up Abigail's body resting his head on her breast, while Abigail wrapped her legs around his waist. After a few minute's recovery, William allowed his mouth to wander down to Abigail's nipple, and he licked it gently with the tip of his tongue. Abigail shivered both from the sheen of sweat that covered her naked body and the relentlessness with which William continued to pleasure her. Abigail kissed William's forehead, deciding that it would be better to encourage him, since he would only take what he wanted anyway.

He started kissing her in the soft crook of her neck then nipped at her bottom lip before pressing his tongue into her mouth. William lifted Abigail off the chaise and carried her over the floor to the rug where he set her down gently, then looked at her intensely before unhooking her legs from behind his back and lifting them over his shoulders. William teased Abigail's entrance with the throbbing tip of her penis before slipping into her effortlessly. He took her with force, driven by a selfish urge to relieve himself, not caring if she peaked or not. He fucked her hard and fast until their interactions were reduced to a series of moans and grunts, until finally Abigail came hard once more, screaming loudly, and covering her mouth in a hopeless effort to muffle herself. William came right after Abigail, filling her in short powerful bursts, then they finally collapsed in a tangle of limbs, sweat and mingling fluids, and fell into a deep comfortable sleep.

Morning arrived and again nothing had been said, no feeling other than lust had been exchanged and no truth given in any situation. William moved slowly away from his dozing conquest and began with the only thing he knew how to do. He gathered his things, dressed himself, and prepared to leave Abigail where he had finished with her.

"Where are you going?" she asked as her eyes fluttered open and she caught his eyes as he had bent over to pick up his shirt.

"I'm sorry," he said as he leaned in and kissed her; one true and genuinely loving kiss, "I accepted a job at Quantico. I have to head up there today to set up my teaching practice. I'm finished with violent crimes. I'm leaving the field once and for all and taking up my rightful place in the lab."

"You lied to me," Abigail whispered.

"Yes, I did," he said.

"You've never lied to me before," she said, tears in her eyes as she reached out and pulled the cashmere throw over herself to hide her nakedness.

"We've been lying to each other for years," William stated and turned and walked out of her condo.


	23. Goodbye Love

Chapter 23: Goodbye Love.

Abigail curled into a ball as the door closed behind William, and sobbed as the full weight of his words fell upon her. He was leaving, really leaving, that was it. The cliff was right in front of her and there was no one to pull her back. She would fall flat on her face all alone, just herself and the X-files for comfort. I don't want to do this alone! Her brain screamed as her tears soaked into the soft faux fir rug. Why did I let this happen? What was I thinking? She sobbed as the sun rose outside the windows and started to bath the condo in new morning light.

Abigail sat alone in the apartment with only the cashmere throw to cover her as her tears dried. She had sobbed long and hard until she was out of breath and her eyes stung. She felt used and weak. She wanted to hate William, but at the same time she knew that it wasn't just his fault. He had tried to stop her and yet she was persistent. She was always persistent. He questioned her so many times before and she always told him he was wrong. Was he really wrong now? No, he was right, they didn't talk, and they never told each other anything, but they found out things. He knew so much about her and she hardly knew anything about him. His job had been to get inside people's heads, to profile, to think like they thought. William never thought like she thought and yet he knew her and her personality so well that he always knew where to find her and how to help her. But now he had made a conscious decision to leave, to pack up his things, put and end to his work on the X-files and relinquish his position as her partner. She was alone.

"What do I have left?" She asked herself as she stood and began to pace. The apartment wasn't in the condition it had previously been in. There were tell tale signs of the night they had spent and the deeds they had done. The Tiffany lamp lay shattered on the floor beside her desk, it had been a gift, but at the time it was nothing to the man that she held and now they were both gone. What she wouldn't give to have him. To be waking up with him beside her in this apartment, under different circumstances. He had become her life. She wanted to protect him from the violence because deep down she wanted a life where they could be together. But something had changed. She had pushed him too far. The dangers out weighed the benefits of being with her.

Abigail showered, the heat of the water doing nothing to wash away the feelings of guilt. She wanted to feel William on her and yet she didn't want to be distracted. The only thing she had left was her job and she had to return to it, to do what she had always done but how would she go on without him. It all seemed so trivial now. What were the X-files without William, what was a department without a friendly face to share in the knowing innuendos that no one else would understand? What had happened in five years of working with the same man, day in and day out? When had it all changed? When did they go from acquaintances to friends and from friends to lovers? Abigail couldn't make sense of any of her questions as she stood, numb, under the hot water of the shower.

When she had finished she stepped into the master suit of the beautiful condo, it still lay untouched by the previous night. It could have been photographed and printed and no one would have found any signs that people had been in the room. Abigail looked at herself in the mirror that towered over the vanity and saw the ragged young woman that she was. Her cheeks were flushed, her eyes were red and stinging, and she looked like Snow White, shaking and vulnerable. "When did I become this girl?" she asked herself staring at her reflection. "Does he even know what has become of me?" she asked her reflection, "does he even care?"

She moved to the armoire and pulled from it a suit that she had left in the apartment, many of her clothes were there, clothes she never wore. Abigail spent her days working, her nights working and when she needed to eat she ate, if she needed to wash the few suits she had with her all the time she had them washed, but she could have just come home. She could have spent some quality time sitting, reading a book, taking a bath, just being comfortable for once, but she never did because she didn't want to do those things alone. There was never anyone else in this place and as she looked around her she knew what she had become. She didn't come home because there was nothing there for her. She stayed out, traveled the country and worked herself into oblivion because she was able to do it with William. Now what was there for her?

Once she had finished dressing she moved away from the mirror, the suit and her tie and the stilettos that she wore, did nothing for the pain that she saw in her face. She was parading around as her former self but she wasn't that girl, not today. She walked into the living room of the condo, saw what the night had done to the place and walked straight for the door. She locked it behind her and left, but she could forget it. She could still feel William. They had been completely sober and yet drunk on each other. They had acted rather than thought and now she was paying the price.

"I hope he's feeling like this," Abigail said to her reflection in the rearview mirror as she drove through the city, "I hope he is aching, falling apart inside because of what we have done." She wanted him to suffer just as much as she was at that moment but she also realized that she wanted to know that he loved her. She wanted to hear those words, to know that somewhere along the line they had become more than just friends. The sex set aside, she wanted to think about love. She wanted to know that at this very same moment he was thinking about her. She wanted him to think of nothing but her and how he was hurting her.

"How did we get here?" she asked herself as she sat in the car, in the parking garage at the J. Edgar Hoover building, "how the hell did we get from friends to lovers?How did we fall in love and fall out of love so quickly? Why? Why is he leaving me?" she asked, no longer able to hold back her tears.

Abigail waited in her car for a long time as she tried to compose her thoughts. She needed to stop crying, she needed to go into the building and get to work and she needed to put William out of her mind, but she just couldn't- she could still feel him. He had hurt her, mentally, emotionally, and physically in the last twenty four to forty eight hours and at the same time he had made her realize just how important he had become to her. Why had she been such a bitch to him? After five years of working with the same man what did she have to prove to him?

Finally Abigail went inside and found her way to the office where she and William once worked together. His cubicle was empty, the computer was black and there was nothing left there that would have reminded her that he had even existed. He really had moved on from what they had done together to a new chapter in his life.

"Hey Ventallo, sucks that you lost your partner," one agent stated as he came around the cubicle, "but man what an honor for him. It's such a huge promotion. The lucky bastard is making more than you or me twice over!"

"What's the promotion?" Abigail asked dryly trying to cover up her emotions.

"He's the senior most resident in the medical school and in charge of autopsies and identifications at Quantico," her neighbours across the isle stated, "he didn't tell you?"

"No, he must have forgotten that part," Abigail stated nonchalantly.

"Oh yeah, he'll be teaching the recruits as well as research, the lucky bastard," the same vulgar agent stated, "making oodles of cash in the process."

It took every ounce of strength that Abigail had left to not burst into tears as the rest of her department speculated and congratulated their absent comrade. After several more grueling moments Abigail stood with a stack of files in her hand and walked out of the office and through the halls. The elevator was packed when she stepped in and waited for it to drop to the lower floors. Once on the floor she was searching for she marched, with a purpose, through the halls until she entered the antechamber of Assistant Director Walter Skinner.

"Is the director busy?" Abigail asked the familiar secretary.

"I'll ring you in," the polite little woman answered and picked up her phone.

A few more agonizing moments passed before Walter came to the door and ushered her inside but it was another few silent moments before either one of them spoke.

"I'm sorry about William," Walter stated standing beside his daughter.

Abigail dropped the files she was carrying. They scattered on the floor as she fell into her father's arms and started to sob, "I'm such an idiot!" she bawled into his chest as he tried to calm her down.

"What happened?" he asked, unsure of what to say.

Abigail has never been one to show her emotions this openly to anyone but her father. She had always bottled them up till they exploded and the only person that ever saw these waves of absolute uncontrolled emotion was Walter. He had never, however, seen her lose her cool at the building before, and rarely did she ever even come to see him in his office.

"He's gone and he didn't even ask me. He took the job and just left. He didn't even tell me about it. He just said he was leaving!" Abigail sobbed.

"He's a grown man, Abby, and he'd be a fool to turn down such a position. He's lucky that the board even thought to offer it to him." Walter said softly. "You should be happy for him."

"But I need him," Abigail sobbed, "he's the only one I trust, the only one that understands my work."

"You have to see him in a different way now," Walter stated, "you can still be friends even though you aren't partners anymore." He half laughed.

"What if he doesn't want that?" Abigail asked, "what if I have pushed him so far that this was just what he needed to get out for good? I've been so unfeeling and so irresponsible when it came to our relationship. I don't even think he will look at me again!" she sobbed.

"Things can't be that bad," Walter stated shocked by her tone. "If you love him, you have to tell him. Do you love him?"

"I think I do," Abigail sobbed.

"And that is why you are so emotional," Walter stated not knowing all of the circumstances.

"You think talking will solve anything?" she asked.

"Talking will help. You should talk to him," Walter stated, "Your relationship is built on the contact you've had with each other. You have been taught how to communicate to be an agent; now that you and William are no longer partners you should be seeing this as an opportunity."

There was so much to be said between Abigail and William, things that they had been avoiding and things that they had never said to each other, but Walter was right. If any of this hurting, any of the questions and angst were to be relieved then they would have to talk, and not over the phone. Abigail would have to find a time to speak to William face to face.

"You always make me feel better, daddy," Abigail smiled through the still gleaming tears on her cheeks.

"It's in the job description," Walter joked and kissed her forehead. "Can I get you a coffee? You can sit here and have a chat with your old man and then when you are feeling better you can go back to work. I'll make the excuses to your superiors."

"Thank you," Abigail stated and sat down in one of the chairs that face his desk.


	24. Up And At It

Chapter 24: Up and at it.

Mulder rolled onto his back as he heard Scully's alarm go off. It was yet another week day and though he would normally just roll over and go back to sleep he knew that he had a few things that he needed to look into. He was going to have to make a trip into the city and although he would usually go and spend the night, he wasn't too keen on the idea anymore, at least not since he had been accused and arrested and sent to trial. He would rather be back at home, in bed with Scully to welcome the weekend to their sleepy little lives. But there were questions to be answered, and so as Scully moved out of bed and walked to the kitchen to start her coffee, Mulder was determined that he would get up as well. Moments later he heard the shower start and an idea came into his mind.

Scully was standing under the hot spray of the shower as she let the water run down her body to wake her up. Another day, another dollar, she told herself and began to mull over the things that she had to do. There were still tests that she wanted to run on her blood and on Mulder's blood now that they knew that William was truly their son. She was also anxious to know how her surgery patient was doing and what other interesting little mysteries may come her way. Friday was normally a good day for Scully and though she looked forward to two glorious days off, she knew she had to make it through this one before she could even think of the lazy Saturday she wanted to have with Mulder.

Suddenly she felt movement behind her as the opening of the shower door caused a cool breeze to make her shiver.

"Sorry," Mulder stated as he moved closer to her.

"Mulder, what are you doing?" she giggled.

"Conserving water!" he answered.

"But, why are you awake?" she asked.

"I have some things that need to get done today," he answered, "one thing in particular you didn't dish out last night," Mulder said suggestively, lowering his hands and gripping Scully's hips, while running his hands over Scully's shoulders and nuzzling the nape of her neck. As Mulder moved closer, Scully could feel his rigid penis pressing just below the small of her back, and she smiled to herself as he began kissing her neck and shoulders. Scully reached her arms up and began running her fingers through Mulder's damp hair, encouraging him as he continued to run his lips all over her skin.

Scully moaned as Mulder reached his hands around and squeezed each of her breasts, the caressed her nipples between his thumbs and forefingers. Then Mulder's right hand traveled down Scully's torso and a finder pressed lightly into her clitoris, while his left hand continued its ministrations on Scully's breast. Scully raised her right hand to continue stroking her nipple, while Mulder's hand rubbed her clitoris with increasing force. Mulder could now feel Scully's hips thrusting subtly toward his fingers and he obliged her in response by slipping his finger past her folds, into her moist core. Scully moaned and bucked harder, encouraging Mulder to insert a second finger as he pumped in and out. Finally adding a third finger, Mulder slammed his thumb into Scully's clitoris, causing her to contract rhythmically deep inside, and whispering his name as she climaxed. Mulder waited until Scully had ridden out her orgasm before removing his finders, and turning her to face him, he pulled her into a tender kiss. Scully parted from Mulder, looked down to admire his erection, then turned to exit the shower, smirking.

"Hey woman! Get back in here and finish what you started!"

"Oh I'm sorry," Scully laughed, "but I'm pretty sure you're the one that initiated, so you're going to have to give yourself a hand, otherwise I'll be late for work." Scully toweled off and headed to the kitchen, grabbed a second cup of coffee before getting dressed. Scully went into the bathroom and began applying her make-up, smiling to herself as she listened to Mulder pleasure himself under the hot spray of the shower- she'd always enjoyed listening to Mulder masturbate.

"Did you enjoy yourself?" Scully asked innocently as Mulder exited the shower, penis flaccid, reaching for a towel.

"No thanks to you," Mulder chided, sticking out his tongue. Scully slapped his bare ass as he walked by.

"Be careful Mulder," Scully said as she walked back into their bedroom.

"Why is that always the first thing out of your mouth?" he asked jokingly. "It's not like I'm running into battle."

"you're going into the city, which means your either going to A. visit our old stomping grounds at the Hoover building, or B. you are going in to consult with the Lone Gunmen," Scully stated.

"How do you know I'm going into the city?" Mulder asked as he straightened his tie in the mirror.

"You're wearing a suit, G-man; why else would you pull one of the good old boys out of the closet?" Scully stated.

"Alright, you've got me," Mulder laughed, "I'm heading in to visit both the bureau and the gunmen, any messages you want me to deliver?"

"You forget, I haven't had the pleasure of meeting the new lone gunmen," Scully smiled.

"Why'd you put that on, G-woman?" he asked eyeing the suit as if it were an old and dear friend, "please say it's for old times sake… then again, if you do, we'll both end up late for work," he added with a wink.

"I have a board meeting today, and every Friday, before rounds start," Scully laughed, "so no, you are not going to make me any later than I am already."

"Alright," Mulder sighed theatrically and walked out of the bedroom.

"Mulder, please don't go getting into any trouble. I don't want to get any calls to come and bail your ass out of prison or something," she stated as she followed him into the living room.

"I'm not going to cause anything, I promise, I'm just going to hang with my old friends!"

"You don't have friends at the FBI, Mulder, only enemies!" Scully warned.

"I didn't mean at the FBI!" Mulder laughed. "See you tonight."

"I'll be waiting," Scully smiled and turned back to the bedroom where she finished her prep, and headed off to work.


	25. The Federal Bureau of Investigation

Chapter 25: Federal Bureau of Investigation.

Mulder walked thought the once familiar halls of the J. Edgar Hoover building. At one time he had been exiled, forgiven and readmitted into this building, but now it was uncomfortable to be there. He wasn't that man anymore, something had changed him and he was ready to put this chapter of his life behind him, but there were still truths to be found and he was going to find them.

His reputation followed him through the halls, as whispers at his back caught his attention. He had long ago given up many of his eccentricities for a quiet, more pacifist and composed way of life. He laughed a little at the foolishness of his past. Somehow he had matured from that time, but the rest of his colleagues had not. What a mess ambition had caused for him and for Scully, and yet, they were far better off than most of the people that stared and jeered at him as he passed them by.

_How on earth did she put up with me? _He thought to himself as he walked through the front entrance and checked in at the visitor's center. _What I have done throughout my career really was a hindrance to both of us. I could have done so much more, so many better things for humanity, but I was selfish and reckless. I could have saved so many more lives. Scully was right, age does something to a person. I would never do half of the things I did, had I known what I know now. How did she stay with me through it all? Through her cancer, her abduction, all of the threats, attacks and contaminations I put her through for the sake of the X-files and the pursuit of a truth that was masked in lies and dangers? She's the strongest woman I know and I left her to deal with so much. It will never happen again, I won't let it. I hope she knows just how devoted I am to us, and to the truth that we already know._

Mulder's thoughts wondered with him through the halls of the Bureau. So many things remained the same, and yet, the faces were different. The people he would have once recognized looked old, warn out, discontented with everything that their careers had done to them. Being an agent was a hard job, there were causalities and events that you knew about going into it, but, in the back of your mind, you always prayed that they would never happen while you were on duty. They always did, however, and you had to learn how to cope with the changes, the losses, and all the uncertainty that being an officer of the law brought to your life.

"This is what we signed up for," Mulder said to himself as he continued through the halls lined with offices and conference rooms. How many times had he been in this hall, or that room? How many disciplinary hearings have been called because of him? How many people avoided the opportunity of being disciplined by their superiors and he thrived in it. "I think I get it, Scully. Why you always tell me to stay out of trouble. I was trouble with a capital T." he whispered to himself as he heard the whispers at his back once again. "I'm a legend around this place, the example of what not to be."

"Hey Spooky!" a voice came from behind him.

Mulder turned on his heals. _Was that name still going to haunt him?_ "Mitchells?" he asked looking at the skinny, tall, man who came out of an office door and rushed up to him to shake his hand, "you can't still be a field agent!" Mulder stated as a smile crossed his face at the sheer excitement that his tall colleague exhibited.

"Oh hell no!" Mitchells stated, "I'm an assistant director now. Just desk work for me, my friend, after I was injured in the field. They still let you in here?" he asked jokingly.

"It looks like it," Mulder laughed. "What do you mean you were injured? I don't remember reading anything about it. I do still get the news letters."

"You clearly don't pay very good attention then," Mitchells stated, "but then again you never did; if it didn't hold any interest for you. I was shot in the line when a hostage negotiation went a rye."

"I think I do remember reading that," Mulder said vaguely remembering the particulars in the case he had read in one of the bureau publications.

"Yeah well, it wasn't that big of a story, but it did get me a promotion and a major bonus for my family," Mitchells stated. "Not like you, always making headlines, even still and you don't even work here anymore."

"Oh yeah, I have to keep up my rep you know!" Mulder laughed.

"You mean rebuild it!" Mitchell added. "Your articles on profiling and insights into cold cases are a hot commodity around here, even in the academy. Back in our prime, people knew you were one brilliant son of a bitch, now you've gone and proved it. They use your articles in the academy, the goddamn academy Mulder, can you believe that, and the students just gobble them up. Did you ever imagine it? Every recruit and rookie has read your works. They are the talk of the institution. You are more famous than you realize. Had things gone differently you could have been section chief or even director of this place."

"They'd stick me out at Quantico in some basement office teaching students how to construct a profile," Mulder laughed. "I'd never see the light of day. Doesn't really sound like a good time to me, besides, I have other interests and writing articles can be done from anywhere. While you guys are here freezing to death in the long snowy winters, I can be writing on a beach in the Bahamas." he added.

"I'm sure the royalties don't hurt either," Mitchells laughed and elbowed Mulder for emphasis.

"Not at all, every time one of your rookies reads one of my articles in a classroom, or another one of the bureau magazines publishes, hell recycles, one of my works I feel it in the form dollars and cents. I am not complaining!" Mulder laughed.

"Man, that sounds like the life," Mitchells said with a sigh, "I better head out into the field and chase down some little green men and get myself exiled!"

"I don't recommend it," Mulder said raising an eyebrow to the man, "Military court is a real drag."

"I believe it!" Mitchells laughed a strange and awkward laugh. "But you look good, no worse for wear, by the looks of it, and what ever happened to that pretty little partner of yours?"

"She's a doctor now," Mulder said feeling awkward with the continuation of the conversation.

"She was too smart for this place," Mitchells stated.

"It was time for a change," Mulder agreed.

"I gotta get out of here myself. Just a few more years then I'm going to retire to someplace hot and quiet." Mitchells stated as he secretary came out of the office.

"You're conference call is starting," the little round woman stated eyeing Mulder with disapproval.

"Duty calls," Mitchells sighed and reached out to shake Mulder's hand, "it was good to see you Spooky." He added with a smile and rushed off to his office.

"Thank God," Mulder said to himself as he walked on.

He and Mitchells had been new recruits together. Mitchells was a playboy, he was lazy and joined the bureau only to pick up chicks with his one-liners, adding 'I'm with the FBI' to his bag of tricks and flying under the radar for most of his junior years.

Mulder continued on his path through the halls of the Bureau knowing exactly where he was headed. It was a place he and Scully visited often and as he turned into the outer office and eyed the same secretary that had been there when he was still an agent he smirked to himself and walked right past her.

"He's in a meeting, you can't go in there!" the little woman stated as she tried to get in front of Mulder, but his hand was already on the door and he pushed it open spotting Skinner and Agent Ventallo deep in conversation.

The displeasure was visible on Skinner's face as the door opened and his secretary struggled to keep Mulder back, but the familiarity of the situation and the sly smile that crossed Mulder's face softened his former superior.

"I'll handle this," Skinner said as he stood from his desk and watched his disgruntled secretary disappeared behind the door again.

"I couldn't help it, Walter. She's been working peacefully for too long now, I had to mess with her just a little." Mulder smiled as he shook Skinner's hand and greeted the young woman who occupied the office of the assistant director.

"She was so happy when you left!" Walter laughed. "What brings you in today, Mulder?" he asked and motioned for Mulder to take the other seat before his desk. "You don't mind if Abigail stays, do you?"

"Not at all," Mulder stated as he sat down facing Walter and only stole a short glance at the woman who eyed him cautiously.

"I wasn't expecting to see you here," Walter stated as he settled himself back into his seat. "I was under the impression that you hadn't taken the interest in the developments. What has changed Mulder?"

"I've scraped together some of my own information." Mulder stated calmly. "Actually, it was Dana and now I am just following her lead. She's taking point on this one, and for some strange reason, I am completely fine with it."

"She keeps you on a short leash!" Skinner laughed.

"Oh yes," Mulder agreed, "but I feel like I owe her after all of the years spend dragging her into the unknown."

Abigail started at him. Mulder was a suave sort of man, he seemed like he could get whatever he wanted and, judging him by his reputation, she had made certain assumptions, but he was currently proving her wrong on every front. The distraction of his former agent and mentor of sorts took her mind off of her dealings with William, but only for a moment.

"So what do you need me for?" Skinner asked, "I can give you access to the X-files but I don't think you'll find anything there that you don't already know."

"I don't need the X-files," Mulder smiled, "I really only came to see you for old times sake!" he laughed. "I am really looking for Agent Blake."

This comment shook Abigail's composure, but she remained silent and stared at the coffee mug in her hands.

Skinner exchanged questioning looks with his daughter before continuing, "why do you need Agent Blake, Abigail is the primary agent on the X-files."

"Like I said, I don't need the X-files," Mulder stated, "Agent Blake has other answers that I am looking for."

"He isn't even interested in this investigation," Abigail blurted out with more force and distain then she anticipated.

Mulder turned to look at her at last. He raised an eye brow to her, taking in the state of her appearance, her eyes which were red and swollen but coming down for whatever had initially upset her. He noticed that his sudden attention began to unnerve her, as she squirmed in her chair to break eye contact and hide the depths of what Mulder was reading. His profiling instincts were hard at work reading and analyzing her ever move, the guilt in her composure, the strain in her eyes, and the uneasiness of the topic. Mulder concluded immediately that something had taken place, something bad, and that the relationship between the two agents had changed greatly in the few days that had passed.

"William Blake holds of answers to questions that the X-files can't answer," Mulder stated after a long moment of mulling over the girl. In that short time he had been able to sketch her character, her anxiety and deduce that she and William were no longer on speaking terms, or if they were, something else had happened between them that greatly shook the woman's once calm and stubborn demeanor.

"Agent Blake, or rather Doctor Blake, no longer works in this building," Skinner stated trying to take the attention away from his daughter.

"That's inconvenient," Mulder stated. "See, I knew I came to bother you for a reason. Where is he now?"

"He was transferred to Quantico," Skinner stated.

"Breaking up the team," Mulder stated deep in thought, "that's an old move by the Bureau. What kind of trouble did they get into?"

"He was offered a position in the medical school and he took it, along with a huge pay raise and status over his pears." Abigail said from the seat beside him.

"Is that so?" Mulder asked amused by the girl's explanation, "nothing else happened?" he asked and upon seeing the hint of shock and the attempts to hide it he had already gotten his answer. "I'm sorry; my profiling days are coming back to me and judging by your composure and the eye contact you continually make with Walter, I can assume that I am not getting all the information I was expecting."

"You're good," Abigail said sarcastically, "but you're wrong. William and I were just partners and everyone here is looking to better themselves. The opportunity for advancement presented itself and he jumped at it. It is that simple Mr. Mulder." She stated.

"Do you honestly believe that it is that simple?" He asked.

"The position came open just last week, Mulder," Skinner said skeptically.

"And Agent Blake is the only agent around here that is qualified, nay, has seniority enough take the position?" Mulder asked.

Skinner and Ventallo were silent.

"Something happened," Mulder stated, "you can't hide it from me, and it has put something into motion, but who are they really trying to stop? Is it you, Agent Ventallo, or is it Agent Blake?"

"If, by some strange chance you are correct, what would William have to hide? He's been an upstanding agent, he works by the book, and if anything, I have caused him more headaches and disciplinary hearings than he deserves," Abigail stated.

"So you believe that what ever 'they' are stopping is because of you and you alone?" Mulder asked a glimmer of intrigue in his eyes.

"You have reason to believe otherwise?" Abigail asked.

"Yes, I do," Mulder stated. "It's not because of you, Agent Ventallo, and you're partner hasn't been completely honest with you, but I suppose that doesn't matter now," Mulder added and watched the change and shock in the girls composure. She was doing everything he was predicting and more information was coming to him just by watching her than her words were giving him. "You want to believe so ardently that the truth is out there, but it's been staring at you this whole time. Yes, genetically, you are very interesting, but so are the millions of other people who are unknowingly carrying the genes, myself included, but William is the truth."

"What are you talking about Mulder?" Skinner asked his posture changed by the turn of the conversation.

"The boy brought some interesting revelations to Scully's attention. Since then she has been running the appropriate tests and has come to the appropriate conclusions. William Blake is the true key to this investigation and though he had hidden it from you for this long, I'm afraid it won't stay in the secret recesses of his mind for much longer." Mulder explained. "The truth is very near now."

"Agent Blake has never appeared in the X-files," Abigail stated in disbelief.

"Oh, but he has," Mulder nodded, "you just have to see how to put the pieces of the puzzle together. It will come to you, I'm sure of it."

Abigail fell silent once again, mulling over the things that Mulder had said and becoming more and more distressed and angry with every passing moment, but she tried her best to keep her composure.

"Well Walter, I think I've gotten all that I can from here. I'll keep in touch," Mulder said as he stood to take his leave.

"Where are you going now?" Skinner asked as he walked with Mulder back to the door. "Is there anything else I can do for you?"

"I'll keep you posted on that," Mulder said, "for now I have some friends in low places to visit."

Walter nodded and watched as Mulder left, seeing him smile and wink at the secretary who sat angrily on the other side of the door, he turned back into his office but Abigail was gone, the second exit door closing behind her as she left.


	26. Revelations

Chapter 26: Revelations.

Abigail walked away from her father's office in high dudgeon. Mulder had once again caused her to loose her composure and he filled her head with even more angry thoughts of William than had already been there. She stomped down the hall toward the elevator, and finding it empty, she road it down to the basement where the X-files were kept. Aside for the files that had been lost on the high way, the piles of their own notes and connections that had been made between the files, many of the original X-files had never even left the basement. (Abigail and William had made copies of the files before setting off for Mulder and Scully's and returned the original files to the basement to cover their tracks). The basement wasteland of old photocopiers had served their purpose and even though she had lost much of her own research on the X-files, the cases that Mulder and Scully had been familiar with, the ones, in particular, that Mulder would have mentioned, were still down among the dark and dusty debris of the dungeon.

_I'll make the connections!_ Abigail thought angrily as she stormed into the storage room that was once Mulder's office. "I've been staring at these files for far to long to not make the connections Mulder!" she hissed to herself as she pulled open the filing cabinet doors violently, one after another, and pulled every file she could think of that may or may not have a link, or a mention of alien DNA. Then, all at once, the idea hit her. _If William had shared some secret information with Scully, and Mulder had been oblivious to his on genetic connections then he has come to believe that William is the William of their past._ Abigail stopped, the original file about the baby born to Dana Scully in her hands, "It's impossible," she hissed and flipped open the file. "He would only be eleven or twelve years old. Not edging on his late thirties!"

_You've seen and believed odder things, _Abigail's mind screamed as she flipped through Mulder's personal X-file account and Scully's multiple appearances. _They have been through the ringer. Tests, exposures, and abductions, they have lost time, been risen from the dead, been barren, and then to have had a miracle baby. _The connections were there, the ideas and the science verified in the files, but was it really possible? Did she want to believe that William could keep something like this a secret from her, knowing how much this would mean to her career, to her studies, and the truth that was out there? How did he ever find out himself, make the conclusions, and verify his own DNA?

"How many times have you lied to me?" Abigail asked the empty office as tears well up in her eyes again. "I trusted you, William, and you kept this from me?"

_You would have made him into your pet project, your guinea pig, and you would have never seen him as anything less than the salvation of your career. _Her mind reasoned on William's behalf. _He would have never been anything more than a science project, a living file that you needed to find the answers to. You want to believe that you loved him enough. That you would never put him through those things; the tests you are ultimately planning at this very moment, but you know that this has taken over your life, that you have nothing else and if William is the answer then, William the person, has to make way for William the alien. This is why he never told you, because he doesn't want to be a living experiment. If you love him, then put this behind you, but you have only come to know the truth about your own feeling because you've lost him. _

"It's not true," Abigail sobbed as she sat on the floor of the basement wasteland, in the dimming light of the dying florescent bulbs, with only the X-files to comfort her. "He lied to me. He could have told me these things. He knows I would have understood." She said out loud just to hear the words to try and ease some of the pain, but she didn't believe the words herself. Her obsession with the X-files was too prevalent in her mind. She was sitting in the dark, clutching the files and trying to pretend that they didn't matter, but really they were her entire life, without them she would be completely alone, and even though she wanted to see William as an equal, as her significant other, as her lover, he became her questions and her answers. "If only I could learn the truth from him, then I could let it all do." She said to herself.

Suddenly, among all the paper and clutter Abigail realized just how true to this moment her life truly was. There was nothing but stuff in her life. She held onto the ideals and beliefs that she had gathered around her and had shut herself off to the idea of life itself. In the beginning she never wanted William, she didn't want a partner, but the powers that be had thrust them together, and she had taken advantage of having a comforting voice and a helping hand always present. Now he was gone and she was alone, but the betrayal of his secrecy cut deep. They had built their relationship on lies and denial. She was always the aggressive one, taking the lead, pulling him down with her and he lied in the face of all of the truths about her and about this alien colonization that he knew about.

These revelations did nothing to calm Abigail. She steamed and stewed, as she flipped through files, connecting the dots that had not been there before because she didn't have this one little, tiny, bit of information. She wanted to kick and scream and punch him for doing these things to her. She felt dirty for allowing her passion to take power over her mind and for the deeds that they had preformed with one another in an act that should have been of trust. It was all gone now. She was devastated, just like the lamp that still lay smashed on her condo floor. Her life was in pieces.

_They have always been in pieces, millions of little pieces without any true form or function. You made yourself like that. It wasn't William. _A voice in the back of her mind soothed her sobbing. _You cannot place all of the blame on him, when it was the both of you who consented. He sought you and you sought him, and had you not reciprocated you would not be in this position; heart sick and denied._

For a long time, Abigail's emotions and reason battled one another in the dimly lit basement of the FBI building. She couldn't accept what her mind was telling her heart, or that she had been so blind as to not see any of these connections before, but her anger was still very great, and in a moment of distress Abigail had made up her mind. It was time, at last, to talk to him. Her rational mind wanted to talk; to ask all of the pertinent questions and to figure things out. She wanted to know where and when to place the blame, but her emotions wanted to scream and yell; to hit and punch and make him feel the pain that he had caused in her heart.


	27. The Spies

Chapter 27: The Spies

Mitchells paced his office as the voices continued to fill it from the phone he had put on speaker. He had been working as a double agent for years, before Mulder and Scully had even left the Bureau. The government, the syndicate, had needed to rebuild, and to place people in powerful positions to monitor the workings of the aliens and those that were against the plans that had been so long in the making. The syndicate had not been without its fair share of problems. The aliens were a violent and demanding race, and though they worked together and against one another, things had never functioned smoothly. Mitchells had stepped into place, first under the direct supervision of the cigarette smoking man, and then after his death, a man who swiftly stepped into the dead man's shoes; a man only known as Austen.

"Doctor Blake showed up on time at Quantico this morning, I assume," Austen stated into the phone and waited for Mitchells reply.

"Yes."

"And the girl is very much indisposed?"

"She's distraught."

"Then you have nothing to worry about," Austen stated calmly.

"You say that but Mulder is pocking around. My sources tell me that he has been to see Skinner," Mitchells stated as he sat down at his desk, stood up, and started to pace again.

"Skinner is of no concern to us," Austen stated.

"Skinner is the director in charge of the X-files."

"The X-files are obsolete."

"The X-files are what have kept Agent Ventallo occupied. She will soon know the truth. This doesn't worry you?" Mitchells asked.

"There are greater problems to worry about than one girl knowing what her partner's secrets are. She cannot do anything to stop us. Blake is a mistake; a thorn in our side, and yet, he could be the key and the upper hands to our winning this battle once and for all. He should have never survived, and though we have tried and the aliens have tried, but he lives on. He has been in enough life threatening situations and come through them without a scratch or showing signs of slowing down, the boy will not die. He is being protected and soon he will be the key to awakening the dormant masses. We simply need to keep him in a controlled position until the time is right. We want the alien colonist to believe that we are completely devoted to the plot, but at the same time we need the boy to save our own skin." Austen stated.

"The resistance will still happen," Mitchells stated, he had been initiated into the syndicate himself.

"If the resistance happens before the colonization begins then we fail as guardians to the aliens that we have aligned with years ago, but if the resistance can be held until after the colonization has been initiated then we cannot be blamed. If we act as if we are oblivious to the issues that have arisen we are not in breach of our contract. We are covering up just as much for the aliens as we are for the people of earth. Ultimately our goal has never changed; it is the preservation of the human race. Now if that means that William is capable of our preservation then we have been given our greatest asset but he must be kept silent until after the colonization has started. We are lucky to already have a resistance from the Red Aliens, let them all be oblivious to our ace in the hole." Austen stated calmly.

"And what if Mulder finds out?" Mitchells asked. "You don't seem particularly worried that he has made an appearance here."

"I'm not," Austen said, "but to please the rest of the syndicate make sure he hasn't left with anything incriminating. He has other ties, to other organizations, he'll find out soon enough. Really, what can one man do?"

"Your predecessor underestimated Mulder and look what happened to him," Mitchells stated.

"I am not underestimating him, he has been writing about the same thing for years and no one pays attention. I don't believe that if he decided to change his tactics and shout it from the mountains 'that the aliens are coming' that anyone will care to listen to him." Austen said thoughtfully, "besides he's mellowed out since Scully became a doctor, and he has become comfortable in his oblivion. Just find out what he was doing at the building and get back to me. I am not concerned; I don't think you should be either."

Mitchells walked out of his office; his composure had been shaken to see his old colleague back in the Bureau. Before any of this had happened he used to laugh at the absurdities that Mulder had talked about, but now, after all that he had seen, the experiments and the syndicate involvement, Mitchells knew that the fate of the human race rested in the hands of people that were nearly as oblivious as he was. Walking thought the halls now clearing his mind, he was looking for one person and he soon found her looking angry, distraught and vengeful.

"Agent Ventallo, where have you been?" Mitchells asked spotting the young woman as she came off the elevator and entered the office where her cubicle was found.

"I've been searching the micro-files for information on my current case," Abigail lied struck by the address of the assistant director.

"Would that happen to be an X-file?" he asked.

"No," she answered, "I've been assigned to a serial case dating back to 1983." She added looking at him oddly.

"I was under the impression you were in counsel with former special agent Fox Mulder," he said trying to sound authoritative.

"You are mistaken, sir," she said shortly, "Fox Mulder hold no interest for me. I believe he was in a meeting with Assistant Director Skinner. Mulder has since left the building, I believe, but I am sure that Director Skinner will be happy enough to answer your questions."

"Thank you for your cooperation," Mitchells said and left the girl standing in the hallway.

Mitchells turned on his heels and headed back to his office. Lucky for him, Mulder had left the building; he would verify it with security. At least the visit had been short lived. Mitchells knew that Skinner wouldn't give up any information but the relative length of the visit to the building mean that Mulder didn't gain any information from anyone on the inside. So far Mitchells was safe and he began to believe that Austen was correct in his assumptions.


	28. Quantico

Chapter 28: Quantico

William had accomplished all that he had set out to do in the day that formed his new residency in the medical school at Quantico. He was shown around, even though he was already familiar with the layout, was given an office, a teaching space, and full access to the laboratories and autopsy rooms. He met some of the new recruits, had lunch with the highest ranking officers around him, and was given his syllabus to get organized. He wouldn't be teaching right away, the students were still getting settled but September would bring the beginning of regular classes and a busy time for the new resident. He would still be busy, however, with bodies piling up for investigation and paperwork that went with the cases, but he was distracted. His mind continued to wander to the young woman he had left curled up on the floor, in the fetal position, who's heart he seemed to break with every word he had spoken in the early morning hour. The image of her laying there sobbing was burned into the back of his mind, and every time he felt himself becoming overcome with the stress and emotion of the situation, he closed his eyes and saw her there and was over come with emotions.

The drive to Quantico was enough for the full weight of his actions to sink in. He had been reckless in his advances the previous night. How his intentions had change from the moment he walked into the building to the moment he had left. He had never intended for things to happen the way they did. Why were they so drawn to each other? Why she was so forceful again and why hadn't he held back? Still, all this happened with a blink of an eye, a breath, and the simple confession of knowing each other better then they know themselves. Nothing was resolved, nothing was said to the contrary, and before they knew it they were caught up in the throws of passion again. William wasn't one to loose his cool easily, but Abigail was some kind of drug to his system. The longer he was away from her, the more horrible he felt, but he knew it was for the better. He would have to stay away for quite some time, or risk anything happening again. They couldn't trust each other in the same room, and his lie had been the straw the broke the camels back. He had seen it in an instant, the horrible, crushing, look that she had given him, and the betrayal of her tears. He couldn't watch her cry, he had to leave and he did, without another word.

"You've been distracted," William said to himself as he moved around one of the autopsy bays as he prepared to start his second autopsy of the day. "You need to focus now, put her out of your mind. She'll never look at you again anyway." He told himself and prepared his next cadaver.

The process was long and tedious, but it did finally end, and as William cleaned his area, refrigerated the corpse and showered, he realized that his entire day had passed in thoughts of Abigail. He took himself home; the darkness had already fallen, and stopped at a little pizzeria, before making the drive back to his apartment. Eventually he would find something closer to his new place of employment, but for now he had to deal with the long drive and the silence of his thoughts, always bringing him back, back to two night of passion that had ruined his chances at loving a woman he had felt so strongly for.

His apartments was dark when he arrived, it hadn't been disturbed in days, and William liked the quiet solitude that it brought to him, but there were markings of the partnership that he had so hastily left behind. Abigail was present in everything around his home. They had spent many night and days together there, researching, eating, talking, planning, it all happened at his place because she hated to be in her condo, or maybe it was because neither one of them wanted to be alone.

The distraction of a career and of an infatuation with a beautiful woman was all that William had to take his mind off of what was yet to come in his life. The older he got the more of his past came back to him and signs and signals started to pop up in his mind. Something, someday would click and he would have to stand up to the colonizing aliens. He knew it, he had been taught what to do and how to save the human race. It wasn't going to be by a great battle or by any extinction, but rather, it was going to be a quiet movement. William could see and hear things that other people couldn't, and he tried to push these things as far as he could out of his mind, but they were always present. William would one day, as the signal came to him, go out into the world and would see those who were like him. There were more people then anyone could imagine and he could see in them the genetic difference that on the outside made them just like everyone else. One by one people would become aware. With a touch, or a nod, or even a whisper they would come to know the truth and this small movement would start the revolution. The fight against the future would not be violent on their end, for the White Aliens were a calm, peaceful, race and they were saving the human race, but the others would rebel, they would fight and they will find out just how many there are in the resistance. The human race will not die; it will flourish because William knew what was to come after.

"Why do I have to be the one to worry about all of this?" William asked the darkness of his apartment. "What good is it to put the task to a single man? I can't reach ever living being in the world, and it's not expected of me, but why should I have to be the one who brings the truth to the world?"

Sleep didn't come to William at all that night. His mind was plagued with questions and his heart was breaking with remorse for what he had done to Abigail. He paced his apartment until the sun's light began to fill the spaces that had been cloaked in darkness all throughout the night and with the realization of the dawn, he showered, dressed and left his apartment, seeking his breakfast, his new job and something that would act as an escape from the sad reality he was living. William was alone, waiting, because there was nothing else for him to do.


	29. The Lone Gunmen

Chapter 29: The Lone Gunmen.

Mulder hadn't stayed long at the J. Edgar Hoover building, but he knew that he had made a stir. There were people now watching him, following him through the building and making sure that he was interrupted at every turn. He was surprised to not be in any way interrupted in his meeting with Skinner, but was sure that at some point either Skinner or his daughter would be quizzed on the meaning of the visit. The bottom line for Mulder was that he didn't trust anyone at the FBI. He had seen how corruption worked and was sure that the place, where justice was supposed to rule, had its price, and that many of those people within its walls were as dirty as a hooker on a holiday.

He left as quickly as he had come, and making sure that he hadn't been followed, Mulder made his way to another location that was quite familiar to him, and remained that way still. This location, a door in a dark alleyway, was still a place where Mulder would find trusted allies, but at the same time, it was a great reminder of a sad time in his career. He had lost three of his best friends, men he had trusted and who had trusted him. After the tragic passing of the Lone Gunmen, Langley, Byers and Frohlike, Mulder and a group of associates to the original three decided to keep the publication afloat and though it continued in its success, it was never the same without the antics of the three founding members.

Mulder remembered his friends before he reached out and knocked at the steel door that led into the headquarters of the Lone Gunmen magazine.

"Password?" a woman's voice was heard. She sounded pissed.

"Frohlike attended Langley before becoming one of the Gunman's primary Byers," Mulder stated with a sigh.

The sounds of locks and latches could be heard in the alleyway before the large bulletproof door swung open.

"It's really more of a pass sentence; you do realize this, right?" Mulder said as he looked down at the woman before her.

"It was your idea," Yves stated.

"I'm aware," Mulder stated as he walked in and the door shut behind him.

"Oh fearless one," Kimmy stated from his place behind a computer screen, "what brings you down to the slums? You've already submitted an article for the next publication."

"Came to pick up my fan mail," Mulder stated dryly.

"There isn't any fan mail here for a Fox Mulder, but there may be a letter or two for Milo Dexufilmlawr." Jimmy stated as he passed a bundle of coffee stained envelopes toward Mulder.

"What happened to them?" Mulder asked looking at the mess of paper.

"Jimmy and Kimmy needed something to prop up the coffee table so that it wouldn't wobble, but they still managed to knock the table over and ruin the magazine mock up and your mail." Yves stated snarkily. "That's fifteen dollars worth of Starbucks on there."

"Good to know," Mulder stated and put the envelopes in his inner suit jacket pocket.

"So really, why are you here?" Kimmy asked again looking up from his computer screen. "I would love to continue to argue about the absurdity that is the alias you write under but, then again, I am sure it will only be a matter of time before you start receiving your hate mail at home. Using your proper name to create your anagram is an insult to the brilliance of our readers and before long they will realize it!"

"Thanks for the heads up," Mulder said and turning toward Yves he began his usual routine of ignoring the geekiest member of the Lone Gunmen. "I need some information, hopefully you've heard about it or know of the government agencies covering it up."

"Oh, finally something worth our wile," Kimmy stated intrigued by the turn of the conversation and he rushed to the side of the room his colleagues had occupied with Mulder.

"I need to know anything about a third alien colony." Mulder stated.

"There isn't a third alien colony," Yves laughed.

"I have proof that there is," Mulder said placing one of Scully's binders on the desk top.

"This isn't proof of alien colonial powers," Yves stated. "This is evidence of human mutations."

"It's alien," Mulder stated, "it's immune to radiation."

"Yeah, and what's so great about it? You've seen it before, Mulder, we have files on it." Jimmy stated.

"If this is a test to see if we can perform as well as our predecessors, it's a lame attempted. You brought this same information to the Lone Gunmen years ago and they told you that it was inactive, waste, DNA." Kimmy stated as he moved back to his old station. "This is old news my friend!"

"But its active now," Mulder stated.

"Technically, it has always been active; we just didn't know what it was doing." Yves said pulling up her own research on the genetics and mutations they had been following. "Now, as it is becoming far more predominant, and not only in cancer victims, we have begun concluding that it has been present in the microbial forms of the human condition for quite some time."

"Do you believe it to be alien?" Mulder asked.

"Oh absolutely," Yves stated, "and so do our informants within the government circles. The difference between this alien and the colonial aliens is that this material is genetic. It is passed on from father and mother to child and as procreation takes it course the mutation becomes more active and it attaches itself primarily to the XY chromosomes and causing the immunities to develop. It also heightens fertility."

"Hyper Fertility is not an affect of colonization; it's an affect of repopulation." Jimmy added.

"And, if the mother and the father share the mutation then the child will be more likely to exhibit heightened maternal and paternal qualities." Kimmy added, throwing in his two cents.

"So, if a doctor and a surfer procreated and they both carried the gene…" Mulder stated.

"You would end up with a Hot Australian Doctor," Yves stated. "Sadly, human genetics already exhibited the same qualities."

"But the key to this genetic abnormality is the immunity to radiation and the need to procreate," Jimmy laughed.

"If you find said Hot Australian Doctor, sign me up to be his baby momma!" Yves joked.

"So aside for the immunity to radiation, there really isn't a difference between humans and aliens?" Mulder asked.

"Not in this case, although I believe there are other immunities that we are not completely aware of." Yves answered. "It could be that the immunities include being immune to the black oil, radiation, extreme heat or cold, inter dimensional changes, time loss, or rather the increased frequency of loss of time, and a sixth sense to beings that are also carriers of the gene. More often then not both parents carry the gene, or so my research has trended in that manner. We won't really know for sure until colonization occurs, but this genetic mutation has caused the human race to become stronger in some things, and has hindered us in other. With immunity to radiation comes the possibility of being unaffected by medical treatments, which may in time make us more susceptible to things like cancer, but we won't know for sure. The only thing that we are sure about right now is the government involvement with colonization. They are acting like they have no idea about the genetics of the human race, when more then certainly they do. Colonization is their primary focus as of right now."

"Which the government plans to go ahead with, even though they are failing miserably and running out of time on the behalf of the alien colonists." Kimmy stated.

"From what we can gather," Jimmy added, "the government is playing double agent to the aliens. They are covering up, as much as they possibly can, about the third alien DNA. It is becoming more difficult as the DNA is so wide spread now, but they are striving for the safety of the human race and covering their own asses."

"If what we have discussed is actually reality, then colonization will not take affect, and although there will be some loss of life, the casualties that we initially anticipated will be far less, and hopefully the aliens will move on from here. It would seem that there has been protection in place for the human race for quite a long time. We've all been tested for the DNA material, and it proves to be in some capacity or another, intertwined in all of us," Yves stated as she motioned around the room.

"And yet, Yves still won't have sex with me!" Jimmy stated sadly. "Not even for the sake of the human race."

"You're not a Hot Australian Doctor," Yves retorted.

"Sorry to not have more exciting news for you, oh fearless one," Kimmy stated mockingly, "but the alien colonization is going to fail as epically as Jimmy's sexual conquests on Yves!"

"This may be true, or is that just what the government wants you to believe?" Mulder asked as he began pacing.

"You have other ideas?" Jimmy asked.

"I just can't come to terms with the idea of this all coming to nothing in the end. All the years I spent chasing after the truth only to have it just fall by the weigh side, can this really be the sad disappointing end to my life's work?" Mulder asked.

"Oh I am sure there will be other mysteries and some really fascinating paranormal activities for you to dive head long into, Mulder, but as for this, I think aliens are a things of the past. People believe more easily now that there is life out there, it's just a matter of asking what kinds of life?" Yves stated, "as for government conspiracies, now there is a sure fire thing, there will always be cover ups and lies to investigate."

"The Lone Gunmen will never rest," Jimmy smiled.

"On the bright side, the universe is enormous, more aliens will surely find their way to our planet, if we don't find our way off of it first to be the next colonial force," Kimmy stated.

"We are not going to get into your new theory on molecular particular reduction and the possibilities for the future of time travel," Yves stated as she sighed and reached for her iPod. "I suggest you run, this is a really boring theory," she whispered to Mulder.

"Went I am the next Einstein you'll be groveling at my feet!" Kimmy stated angrily.

"Human history dictates a strong desire to colonize; I don't think that will ever change." Jimmy stated trying to bring the conversation back around to the topic of Mulder's visit, "If its not aliens, it will be some other being, who knows what else is really out there."

"You sure don't," Kimmy stated angrily.

Yves rolled her eyes and went back to her computer work.

"Alright Kidlettes, play nice," Mulder stated with a laugh as he retreated toward the door. "Poppa will be back in a few weeks to check up on you. Don't let any creepy crawlies get you," he mocked, "and if you hear anything else about the colonization send word."

"There won't be much to report, boss," Jimmy stated, "but we'll keep an ear to the ground."

"Thanks guys keep up the good work. I'm looking forward to the next issue." Mulder said at the door and then disappeared into the thickening darkness of the coming night.


	30. It's Been There All Along

Chapter 30: It's been there all along.

Mulder was never far from Scully's mind. She spent her day busily attending to her patients but the idea of Mulder out in the open was a frightening though and unnerved Scully for most of the day. She had continued with her tests and tried to put Mulder out of her mind but she knew him to well to believe that everything would be alright. He was always one to get himself into trouble, and as she hadn't heard from him all day, her mind began to play out scenarios that ranged from the bizarre to the absolute most dangerous cases they had ever seen.

"Just call already," Scully stated as she stared at her phone. It had been a remarkably quiet day for her and the lack of stimulation made her anxiety worse. Scully began to pace her office knowing that there was nothing else she could do but wait and worry. She wasn't an agent anymore, they didn't work together in the same capacity as they used to, and now, all she could do was wait and wonder. As she paced the office her mind wandered to the times they wouldn't have been separated for anything, even going as far as working together when they shouldn't have. Once upon a time, Mulder and Scully had been inseparable, they ran head first into the unknown together and now, as they had settled into a domestic kind of life together, things had changed and even though they tried to be an integral part of each others lives, Scully knew that it would never be the same kind of relationship that it was.

_You're just a doctor, there is nothing else for you but to be the researcher and the little wife, but that's what you wanted then, why isn't it what you want now?_ She thought as she paced the office. _Because you know the dangers that are out there now, you know what is to come and even if this is all blown out of proportions by some measure, you'll always worry, always wish to be carrying your weapon, and you will always know when something bad may happen._

Suddenly the phone rang knocking Scully out of her destructive and depressing thoughts. Her heart leapt as she saw the caller ID and answered without hesitation.

"What happened, Mulder?" she asked into the phone.

"Not much," Mulder said cheerfully into his end of the line, "just calling to tell you that I'll probably beat you home, is there anything you need me to pick up while I'm still in the city?"

"Not that I can think of." She answered trying to hide the relief in her voice.

"You've been worried, haven't you?" Mulder asked with a chuckle.

"You have given me good reason to worry," Scully stated as she blushed, "you have been in some pretty sketchy situations."

"And you've always been there to get me out of them," Mulder stated.

"I'm not with you now."

"No, but you will be soon." Mulder stated and couldn't help but smile to himself. "Do you have anymore test results?" he asked trying to change the subject.

"Not yet, but I should have something before I get home," she answered.

"Good, hopefully it will back up some of the information that I gained today. Any way, I am driving and I shouldn't be on my cell, so I will see you at home." He said.

"Alright, drive safely," she stated feeling relieved to have heard his voice and to know he was on his way home.

"Love you," Mulder stated and hung up.

"I love you too," Scully whispered to herself as she smiled and blushed. The words still got to her every time she heard them from him. He never used to say them, but his actions had told her that he had feelings for her. Since their exile, her return to medicine and their domestic life together, Mulder used the words often but with the same emotion that all of his action had before. Scully knew that something far deeper than friendship and partnership had formed over their nineteen year relationship and she was grateful to have found such comfort and companionship in her life.

Before heading off to do her final set of rounds, before she could leave for the day, Scully found her way back to the lab and began gathering printout and checking her cultures beneath the microscope. Strange and interesting things had begun to form in the Petri dishes and on the microscope slides.

"That's interesting," she said to herself as she watched her computer digitize the strands of her DNA and form them into moving models. Mulder's were next to be viewed and the same connections and interesting mutations were discovered.

"Why did it take me this long to explore my own DNA?" Scully asked herself.

Much of what Doctor Scully was discovering in the DNA that was before her wasn't new information, although it was a shock to see it in her own make up. The mutations that she had been studying in her patients were present in her own DNA and in Mulder's. From what Scully could tell, throughout her previous research and in these studies, the material had been present within the subjects from the moment of conception.

"It's been with us all along," Scully stated in disbelief. "Then who among our parents are carriers of the genes?"

Questions flooded Scully's mind as she watched the results spill out of the printer. This was going to be something to talk about over dinner, if not for the rest of their lives. What did this all mean for their connection, the child that was born of their union, and the other experimental procedures that had been apart of their lives. Was this the reason they had not been affected in a more substantial way? Why Mulder was raised from the dead and why she didn't die when she became exposed to the black oil so many years ago. What was still out there un-explained and completely un-discovered and yet was a substantial part of their human DNA.

Scully gathered her things, her mind still full of the information she had gained, as she returned to her office and proceeded with her end of day routine. She had rounds to finish, files to fill out and the following day to plan for. It wouldn't take long but with a preoccupied mind it wasn't a welcome turn of events. She wanted to go home, to sit down like they had done so many times, and talk through the case that was before them. Scully's old days of investigation and skepticism cried out for a few moments spent in a basement office surrounded by the images and files that had once brought answers to their multitudes of questions.

At least, for the moment, Scully was no longer preoccupied with worrying about Mulder and his safe return home.


	31. Austen

Chapter 31: Austen. 

As the summer began to come to an end and September peered over the horizon, the planet began to adapt to the changes in the season. As Mulder drove, rather swiftly, down the deserted highway he couldn't help but notice the darkness that, during the height of the summer months, was kept at bay by the beautiful and warm summer sun, but on this night in late August the sun was setting quickly and though he had only just left the darkness of the alley where he had met with the Lone Gunmen, this open stretch of the highway was normally a brighter and more relaxing place. It was about to become a brilliantly beautiful night, filled with stars and the glimmer of the harvest moon that would soon be upon them, but the calm, serene, quiet that Mulder had anticipated before leaving the city and putting Scully's mind at ease, was interrupted before he knew what had happened.

Out of nowhere two black vehicles pulled up, blocking the road and out of them filed men Mulder had not planned to run into ever again. The men, dressed in black, gathered around a rather tall, regal looking figure. This man, dressed not in black, but in a suit that was clearly of high Italian quality and with an overcoat that swished as he moved, came closer to the side of the highway where Mulder had stopped his vehicle.

"Now what did I do?" Mulder asked himself. It had been a long time since he had stopped carrying a weapon and even longer since he had decided that the life of a radical was behind him. The truth was simple, Mulder had become boring. He had left the high pace dangerous lifestyle behind him and put all of his time and energy not into finding the truth, he had found it long ago, but rather he was invested in living a simple life he had been warned not to let pass him by. Mulder was a happy man, simple in his life and content in what he left in the past, but as he sat, watching the men surround his vehicle the uneasiness and knowledge of his past came back to haunt him.

Mulder watched for a moment as the regal man walked away from the gathering of what must have been his armed guards and came toward the car. He stopped, showed his hands to Mulder, and tapped on the window. Mulder rolled down the window and waited, in the safety of the vehicle, for the man to speak.

"Fox Mulder, I wonder if I might have a few words with you," The man stated and as he leaned down to the window Mulder could make out the smell of some fancy, expensive cologne. "You would be wise sir, to allow me the privilege of fifteen minutes of your time."

"What if I told you that the little lady is expecting me home for dinner?" Mulder asked calmly. "I'm bringing the wine."

"Doctor Scully will be worried, I am sure, but I do not plan on keeping you any longer than absolutely necessary. You will be going home to your partner and significant other tonight, you have my word on that." the man stated. "I have some information that you may be interested in hearing and though I know you are no longer a government officer, I believe you still have some ties to information that is of great interest to us both."

"So what; do you want me to get out of the car so we can pace the length of the highway or would you prefer to get in?" Mulder asked after a long moment of silent contemplation before he motioned to the passenger seat.

The tall man walked around the car, to Mulder's surprise, and took the empty seat next to him. When the doors were closed and the window shut to keep out the cool, damp, late August air, the man spoke once again.

"I assume that by taking you up on the offer of sharing this space with you, I have gained some trust," he stated.

"No, not really," Mulder answered, "I don't trust anyone."

"Ah, neither do I," the man chuckled. "And yet, at one time, I knew of a few gentlemen whom you held in high esteem. I am sure you have heard this all before, Mr. Mulder, but I have been following your work with great interest for many years now."

"The past few years must have been pretty boring for you," Mulder stated. "My current income is based around my ability to write; primarily profiling articles for publication but I have dabbled in hostage negotiations and bomb squad retrievals and the safe detonation of explosives. I'm just your ordinary exiled FBI agent now."

"I know for a fact that you are quite a prolific writer when it comes to conspiracies and alien abduction. You are one of the leading theorists in that area. I enjoy reading your works. I am a subscribing member of the Lone Gunmen." The man stated nonchalantly. "Very interesting work indeed and some even more interesting theories."

"So you work for them?" Mulder asked.

"Whom?"

"The syndicate," Mulder stated. "I only assumed as much as you seem to have ties with our friends the men in black."

"Your powers of deduction are impeccable."

"So, who are you then, another lackey like Alex Krycek?" Mulder asked.

"No, I assure you, I hold a much higher position then someone of Mr. Krycek's terroristic abilities." The man stated. "I fall in among the ranks of X and before him, Deep Throat. You've dealt with them."

"I have," Mulder stated, "but I never trusted them."

"And they didn't trust you."

"Neither do you," Mulder said watching the man carefully, "but they were all tactful enough to give me something to address them by, or would your like me to make up something for you?"

"You can call me Austen, nothing more nothing less," the man stated.

"Not quite as mysterious as X, but I suppose it will have to do," Mulder stated.

"Now, Mr. Mulder, are we quite finished dancing around the truth and parading within the realm of civility, or shall we continue on in these formalities until you are truly comfortable with the situation. I believe it is you who has someone to go home to." Austen said as the silence in the car grew between them.

"You wanted to talk to me, so talk," Mulder stated.

"I have come here to warn you, Mr. Mulder, you must leave the colonization alone until the New Year or you jeopardize everything that we are trying to cover up." Austen stated.

"I can't do much, not anymore," Mulder stated.

"People have heard you; you have more followers than you think." Austen stated.

"If colonization is going to happen, there isn't any stopping it now," Mulder stated, "2012 is well underway. I gave up trying to stop it."

"And yet you are seeking the truth still," Austen stated, "I know you have found your son."

Mulder was silent.

"Your son is being watched, Mr. Mulder, very closely by many beings that have his best and his worst interest in mind. He could blow the cover on all that we have been trying to hide. His DNA and his ultimate connection with the people of his origins will cause more violence than we have anticipated, but if, and only if, we can keep him quiet and secret a little longer, the full extent of the colonization can be stopped. There are enough people born of alien blood that can save the human race. William is alive because he will set into motion a second wave of understanding."

"What kind of understanding?" Mulder asked.

"His birth, his connection with 'the salvation' and the abduction that protected him this long were all part of a plot to continue the regeneration of the human population. It was not apart of our plan but that of 'the salvation' and by their goodness, the human race will be saved. There are others out there, Mr. Mulder as you know, but not all of them wish for our demise. 'The salvation' has been protecting us far longer than the invasion plots. Soon William will remember what is hidden in the past that took his childhood and returned him to a world he is far too old for. William has seen the alien 'salvation' and he is programmed to remember them when colonization is about to start. If we can keep him from his true purpose we may be able to weaken the alien colonizers enough to cast them away from our planet. They will not want a race they cannot defeat and that is what has been building up to this point. Because of William we will all be free, Mr. Mulder."

"How can one man free an entire population?" Mulder asked.

"It is far simpler then you may be aware," Austen explained, "they have been reproducing with the human race for much of our lives. They walk among us and you would not even know it. Pure, true, alien DNA is in nearly all of the population, and yet there are those who are chosen to continue the revolution. Many do not know what has happened to them and although there have been changes that we have noticed, primarily in medicines that no longer affect the super bugs and the mutations of diseases. The human race will always be mortal, but they will not be captured and condemned by those who are not of this planet. 'The salvation' believes that we are meant for this planet, and it is not for any other being to take away from us."

"Why are you telling me this?" Mulder asked looking strangely at the man beside him, "you don't know me and I don't know you, and yet, you are telling me things that I would have been fighting to find out years ago. Why is it so freely given to me now, if it is not a lie?"

"It is not a lie, Mr. Mulder. It is the truth, and the truth has been what you have been looking for, for ages." Austen stated. "The difference now is that you and I and the entire world are ready to know the truth, to accept that we have been apart of the truth and that in the years to come we may be able to prosper. Millennia ago, the population of this planet believed that the world would end, there is ancient documentation of this fact, but there is also documentation of worship over creatures unlike us, a saving race that came to protect us. We know now that by the end of this year, the date documented as our demise may pass us by and our race will continue on in prosperity. That does not mean that there aren't other issues, problems that the planet faces, other threats and plots for domination, but our concern right now is the alien invaders. They may be defeated and may not know to what extent we have been working against them."

"So you are covering it up," Mulder stated, "not from the people but from those who would destroy you by other means if they knew of your deception."

"Exactly," Austen stated as he stared into the darkness. "Beings like William put our work in jeopardy because he will soon, if it is not already done, put events into motion that will continue to strengthen the human resistance."

"So what use am I to you?" Mulder asked, "What is it that you want me to do in this case? If there wasn't something you wanted, you would not be here with me now. You would not have stopped me on this highway, if I wasn't apart of a greater plan."

"We need you," Austen stated, "I can give you everything back that you lost. You can return to the FBI, resume your studies of the X-files, if you wish, but we need you to do something for us in return. The problem is, however, that you have never trusted my organization. You have been offered this same opportunity in the past by men with my same authority, but you have denied it."

"I don't want the X-files, or the FBI," Mulder stated. "I'm not that man anymore. I'm older and wiser now. Leave it to the younger generations who have the interest and the stamina to put themselves in those situations."

"So what could we give to you that would convince you that we are serious in our offer?" Austen asked.

"I don't know. What is it you want me to do?" Mulder asked.

"You need to talk to your son and convince him that what you know and what he is is important to the human race. If things need to happen they need to happen quietly to not bring attention to him self." Austen stated.

"Why can't you do it?" Mulder asked.

"He is more likely to trust you," Austen answered, "and we have told him to not seek you out again. This is a move you need to make. He is being controlled to the best of our ability. He has his new career, money and security within the FBI, but he is still what he is and I believe that he will not be deterred when the time comes to bring the future to a halt."

"How am I supposed to stop him?" Mulder asked. "I am still not completely convinced that this is going to work. The alien colonizers have been working too hard and too long for this to fail."

"They have been failing even longer," Austen stated. "They are no longer convinced that this planet will yield to them the resources they need and because of the overly active involvement of the rebel aliens, they are even less confident. Trust me Mr. Mulder; the deck is stacked in our favor. We simply need to wait this out. We know that both alien forces have what they need to cause irreversible damage to our planet, and yet they have not taken those measure as of yet. We want this revolution to be a quiet one and we hope that by the New Year we may be able to take steps to rid ourselves of this burden forever."

"Are you trying to tell me that the government does not have the means to fight back if the aliens get violent?" Mulder laughed.

"We have the support we need, Mr. Mulder, but we are trying to let this resolve itself peacefully." Austen stated.

"So what am I supposed to tell the kid?" Mulder asked.

"Tell him what you know and where this revolution is taking us." Austen stated.

"And what if he doesn't believe me?"

"He will know what is going on soon enough. The revelations that you are to give to him will be enough for him to realize that he has known the truth for most of his time on this planet. William has known for a very long time that he hold a key to the shift that will bring change to our world, but he has tried to cover it up. He wants to be normal, to live the American dream and to not be involved, but he has been pulled in this direction all his life. It is up to you, Mr. Mulder, to give him the confidence the guidance that a young man would always get from his father. You are to advise him to continue on his path, to take the steps necessary to continue the revolution, but to be quiet, careful and wait for the right moment." Austen stated as he opened the door to the car and stepped out. Leaning in once more, he nodding his head in a wordless adieu, he shut the door and walked back to the gathering of men before the black vehicles sped off into the night.

Mulder sat for a moment longer, pondering the task that was placed in front of him. There were so many more questions now and even more doubt had filled his mind. He wasn't completely sure he understood what Austen was asking and yet he wanted to believe what the man had told him. For years Mulder had believed that the syndicate had been destroyed, but it seemed now that measures had always been in place to rejuvenate the powerful men that were above the authority. Like the alien invaders, the world would not be ride of the secret societies and authority. After a long silence, as he sat in the darkness on the side of the high way, Mulder returned the key to the ignition of his car and pulled back onto the highway; heading once again in the direction of his home and the comfort of the woman that waited for him.


	32. Starry Night

Chapter 32: Starry Night

Scully stepped out onto the terrace that surrounded the small, rural, home that she and Mulder shared. He had planned and constructed the terrace as a surprise for her and it had become one of her favorite places that made up their home. They spent much of their time enjoying the location that they had chosen to settle together. The rural property reminded Dana of her childhood and the happy times she had spent with her brothers and sister. For Mulder it was a reminder of a time when happiness had been with him and his own family, of the holidays they had spent together and a time when his sister had still been with them. Now the house, in its wooded setting, brought to both of them a sense of peace that they had not known while living in the city. The scenery and the silence of this place, the darkness that was unaffected by the polluting lights of the city, brought calm and quiet to their lives, and they spent much of their time together just sitting and listening to the wonders that had been hidden from them within the city limits. But on this night as the stars began to take over the sky and the moon showed itself as a huge orange sphere in the heavens, Doctor Scully paced the length of the terrace ignoring the porch swing and the bistro set that would have normally taken her attention.

The crickets chirped cheerfully as she walked the length of the house waiting for any sign of Mulder. She had assumed that he would be home when she arrived but as she pulled up the drive and found the house still dark, a feeling of dread came over her. She had anticipated some kind of trouble from him, it wasn't likely that he could have a simple, uneventful, visit to the city, but he had assured her of his destination and his returned, promised dinner and wine and a full account of his day, and yet she arrived before he had with her own news and no one to share it with. As the hour grew later and later, her dread became fear as he still remained unaccounted for. Gone were her thoughts of calmness and companionship, as her mind filled with aliens and conspiracy theories.

Dana Scully had known, long before embarking on this life together, that she would face evening and days feeling this way. There had always been fear in what they had studied and chased together, so this feeling wasn't a new sensation for Scully, but it had been a long time, and though she had pushed Mulder to pursue the truth that Abigail and ultimately William might bring, she couldn't help but let her mind wander as the fear took over.

At last lights were seen at the gate and soon the car pulled up to the house, releasing the uneasy state of mind that had come over Scully, as she rushed down the terrace stairs to where Mulder was exiting his vehicle.

"What happened," She gasped as she reached out and took him into her arms.

"Nothing to cause any panic over," He smiled and kissed her. "I'm sorry I'm late, I got held up, but everything is fine."

"Thank God!" Scully exclaimed and walked with Mulder back up the stairs to the entrance of their home.

Mulder pausing to look out at the beautiful night that was starting to develop around him and stopped short of the door, pulling Scully into his arms and taking a seat in the porch swing that had become one of their favorite places.

"I haven't eaten since noon," Scully giggled as she fell into her place at his side and sighed teasingly at him.

"You aren't feeling nourished by all this immaculate beauty?" Mulder whispered seductively.

"No!" she laughed.

"Yeah neither am I," He stated and stood once again.

"Something is bothering you," Scully stated as she followed him into the house. "What happened?" she asked watching him cautiously.

"Man, I'm in deep trouble," Mulder smiled unconvincingly as he fell into the sofa, "I've seen that look before." He stated watching her move from the living room into the kitchen and back again.

"And I have dealt with your avoidance on so many occasions to tell you that you are not getting out of this conversation." Scully stated as she placed a plate before him on the coffee table and sat down beside him.

"You had time to cook?" Mulder asked eyeing the dinner before him. "I'm that late?"

"No, I had the slow cooker on all day," Scully confessed, "but yes, you are that late. What happened out there?"

"I was stopped by a new friend," Mulder said sarcastically.

Scully raised an eyebrow.

"His name is Austen, and he's a member of the syndicate," Mulder whispered mockingly.

"So we have stumbled onto something big," Scully stated.

"Would seem like it."

"And what kind of information did you get out of him?"

"Nothing that I really didn't already know," Mulder answered.

"Did he threaten you?" Scully asked.

"No, but he did ask me to do something," he said cautiously.

"You trust him?"

"Do I trust anyone?" Mulder asked.

"No." Scully answered. "But what does he want you to do?"

"He wants me to talk to our son," Mulder answered. "The syndicate as well as many others have been watching him very carefully, or so I have been told, and they want me to convince him to hold off on whatever revolutionary plans he may or may not want to put into action because he has been programmed by 'the salvation'" he added in a serious and yet mocking tone.

"'The salvation', what is that?" Scully asked.

"Your so called white aliens," Mulder answered.

"I'm right?"

"Yes, you are correct in your understanding of the third alien colonial power that has been present for thousands of years here on earth," Mulder stated. "You are also correct about the alien mutation of the human genome and the need to procreate to save the human race. All in all, you're batting one hundred Dana."

"Well if that isn't proof enough, I don't know what is," Scully said contemplating her dinner more then the conversation.

"Proof of what, alien existence, government involvement, whether or not I should trust this Austen character?" Mulder asked.

"No it's proof that we have spent way too much time together," Scully laughed. "Something is wrong when I'm developing the alien conspiracy theories."

"I've just been too preoccupied with other ideas that I didn't see this coming," Mulder stated with a sigh. "Do you think I'm loosing my touch?"

"You're not loosing your touch," Scully said soothingly, "we're just different people now and because we are now so close to the date in which we have been anticipating, there just doesn't seem like much we can do anymore."

"Apparently there is something we can do," Mulder stated.

"And what might that be?"

"We can gracefully watch the year change and hope that the steps that have been taken, the knowledge that we may impart on some of the key players, will keep the colonization at bay," Mulder explained.

"You believe that?" Scully asked.

"I don't think it matters whether I believe it or not, but rather that I just let things happen as they should happen. What more can I do?" he asked, "I'm nothing but a theorist now, I just write, I'm out of practice in the field and I don't think I would be interested in running around as I once did. The bottom line is that there has to be someone out there that is doing the same thing, who can pick up where we left off in our studies and continue on. I'm tired of it now."

"You're giving up?" Scully asked.

"Not giving up, retiring," Mulder stated.

"So who is going to take over?" Scully asked. "I agree with what you are saying and I believe, as much as you would like to just sit back and let things happen, that you will always have your eye to the sky, you'll always have something to work on, but it would make me very happy and more comfortable to see you let someone else run around like a chicken with its head cut off. It will certainly mean less stress for me."

"Maybe it is William's destiny to take over the family business," Mulder said with a sigh.

"I don't believe he wants to live his life by what has been dictated to him," Scully stated.

"Then maybe it is up to the young woman. Abigail seems passionate enough," He continued.

"You didn't seem very interested in the young woman," Scully said as she finished her meal and placed the empty plate on the coffee table.

"She was pushy, demanding, and all together uninterested in listening to the rules that I was ready to put in place," Mulder explained, "but things have changed now and if it is her passion to follow the truth, then who am I to stop her? I feel comfortable enough now in saying that I would give her the information I can, follow through with whatever connection that I may be able to make for her but I'm not going to head off into the darkness anymore. I will take this one last step that I have been asked to look into, by the syndicate, although I do not trust them and it makes me feel very dirty saying I am actually working along with them, but if they are correct and the colonization may be stopped then, I can only hope that they are telling the truth. The world will always be in danger from one thing or another, but it's not my problem anymore."

"Good for you, Mulder," Scully smiled.

"I want you to come with me when I go to see our son," Mulder stated after a long silence, "If what Austen says is incorrect, and we have very little time left as I would be more apt to believe, then I want to know that you have known your son, and could have had at least the beginnings of a relationship with him."

"I would be more then happy to oblige you in that," Scully smiled, "but what if what Austen says is correct, and the time ahead of us is far greater then we initially anticipated, then what are we going to do?"

"Well hopefully the kid will give us grandchildren and we'll actually be able to live a peaceful and common existence." Mulder stated.

"I see, so that is your plan," Scully laughed. "Free up all your own time to spend with grand children while I slave away at the hospital."

"It sounds like a good plan to me," Mulder teased, "or you could retire as well, the hospital has a great pension, we could both just live blissfully doing nothing and watching the heavens for signs of extraterrestrial life."

"I've been watching the sky with you for long enough," Scully laughed, "I know there is life beyond us, what I would like is to see more of the world then this town and this continent. Retirement for me would mean travel, are you ok with that?"

"Aruba, Jamaica, oh I wanna take yah!" Mulder sang.

Scully smiled, "or maybe Egypt or Greece?" she asked.

"It is said that the ancient Egyptians worshiped the gods of the sky, we could argue that even they knew of the existence of extraterrestrial life," Mulder stated.

Scully rolled her eyes, "maybe Disney Land with the grandkids would be a better idea, we'll find you Buzz Light Year and you can talk aliens with him," she mocked.

Mulder laughed and pulled Scully into his arms. The night outside had grown in beauty, but the comfort that he had found in the small house he shared with Scully was all that he needed to wash away the events of the day. He would take on the task that had been presented to him, bring Scully and her son back together and hope for the best, as they sat alone talking of their future plans and leaving the darkness of the unknown to those held a desire to seek out any further truths.


	33. Brewing

Chapter 33: Brewing

Abigail returned to her apartments after a day spent roaming the halls of the FBI in a rage induced haze. One minute she was heart broken and the next she found herself enraged by the actions that she had participated in. She couldn't put her mind at ease; nothing could hold her attention or distract her from what had happened and the lies that had passed between her and William. William was all that she thought about, for better and for worse; she loved him and hated him. The one truth that could not be reasoned away was the fact that he had kept what he really was a secret for so long. Abigail just could not understand why William, with all of the emphasis she put on her alien DNA, would not tell her that they shared a common bond. Even a man who had spent years away from the FBI and the X-files seemed to know more about her former partner then she did, and to make matters worse they were important truths that went hand in hand with her research and devotion to the X-files. Abigail had always tried to bring to the light the mysteries that she had found within the forgotten files, she wanted William to participate in them as fearlessly as she had, but he never showed an interest and the devotion that she had. _Was it because of his ties to the files?_ Abigail wondered as she flipped through files she was assigned to, but couldn't find a way to concentrate on anything that was written within them. Anything that alluded to the truths she had just uncovered made her even angrier and more agitated than she had already been. She had found herself pacing, racing from her cubicle to the basement and back, and when she couldn't find solace in her work she began counting down the seconds before she could legitimately leave the Bureau and find distractions elsewhere.

Arriving back at the scene of the previous nights crimes, Abigail found herself even more tormented and dazed. The condo showed signed of her indiscretions and reminders of William lingered all around her. She could almost see him in the mess that greeted her and she knew, forensically speaking, that there were traces of him everywhere. The Tiffany lamp lay on the floor with the rest of her carefully accumulated treasures, but it was now a mangled mess of broken glass. Her clothing from the previous day still laid strewn around the living room as the rest of the condo remained in immaculate order. It was like a crime scene and Abigail didn't know where to start. The storm had only passed through this one main room, and yet, it was the heart of the condo and could be seen from every other room. She couldn't escape from it if she tried. Abigail sighed as she walked through the disaster zone and looked, but never touched, what was lying around her.

"What the hell was I thinking?" Abigail said out loud to herself as she walked to the desk and began picked things, meticulously, up off the floor and placing them back where they belonged.

As the night progress Abigail continued her cleaning ritual. She usually had a cleaning lady come by once a week but because the condo was usually unoccupied the cleaner mainly washed the windows, dusted and vacuumed. Abigail knew that if she simply disappeared, as was often her way, the cleaners would know something was up, and even though Abigail knew that her cleaners probably saw much worse than the damage that had been done; she couldn't help but be embarrassed by the assumptions that would or would not be made. In her mind, Abigail needed to put her apartment back in order, to cover up all of the things that she had done and to leave the condo as it had once been, but that would be returning to the way things were before and even now, as she cleaned, she wasn't sure that was what she wanted.

The act of cleaning also seemed to calm Abigail down, and put her mind at ease. As she worked, the questions that had plagued her all day began to find their answers in her behaviour, and though it did nothing to quell the tides of her rage, she realized that much of what happened was her fault as well. She realized, that although she was angry about the secrets and the lies, she couldn't be angry with the acts that had passed between William and herself. She came to realize that she had been covering up feeling for a very long time, masking them with ideas and desires to be independent, and as valuable as any other agent male or female. She realized that she too had been lying about so many things in their relationship to make herself seem more independent. Abigail had never told William about her interactions with the Syndicate and although the meeting on the highway by the men in black surprised and scared her, it had not been the first time that it had happened to her. William was also oblivious to the fact that Abigail kept in contact with a man of power within the Syndicate and as she cleaned her apartment she wondered what these truths would have meant had she told them to her partner. _Would the meeting on the highway been less of a shock had William known the truth? Would I still have him in my life if the honesty that I so desperately demanded was given by me to him?_ She wondered as she began to pace around her living room. She had always believed she needed to prove something to the world, and most of all to William, but she came to realize that it wasn't that she needed to prove her assertiveness, or her intelligence to him, but it was more a cover for the true feelings she had started to feel early on in their partnership. She wanted him to see her as an equal, but she had never allowed there to be any equality in the relationship and had lied to him just as much as he had lied to her.

"I pushed him away," Abigail stated as she fell into the sofa once her cleaning seemed to have come to an end. "What man in his right mind wants to be constantly reminded that a woman doesn't need him?" she asked herself. "Why are you at all surprised that he's gone, moved on, and left you to be independent?"

Abigail couldn't answer the questions, but at the same time she couldn't understand the purpose of his lies. He had lied flat out to her face about the job. He had never told her the truth about his past and showed little to no interest in the X-files unless she was forcing him to investigate one thing or another, least of all he hated any talk of aliens when she now realized that he had to be one himself. She had always been so proud of her alien connection. She wanted the world to know and she had always rubbed it in his face, and now, here she was sitting alone in her apartment with the realization that he had shared that alien connection and never cared to tell her about it. He didn't trust her enough to let her know the truth about his DNA. In all those moments when she had taken pride and comfort in knowing that she was different and working for the greater good, he shared in that and never mentioned it or cared when things went wrong. He even denied his belief or understanding of aliens and put on a face of sheer skepticism, when he had always known that aliens existed and that the truth was within him.

"The biggest secret of all and you had to keep it," Abigail growled out loud as she stood from her place on the sofa and began angrily stomping about her apartment.

Abigail paced and brewed until the early morning hours before she tried to sleep and even then, lying in the unfamiliar bed with pillows and blankets she rarely ever used, didn't bring her any comfort. Her mind was too troubled, her anger too real to let sleep come to her, and though she played over the scenarios in her head, one minute in forgiveness the next in hatred, she could not allow herself to drift off to sleep. She knew as the sun began to peak through the curtains what she had to do. With an overly active and angry mind she got up, dressed and called in and booked herself out on a leave of absence stating medical reasons for her departure from the Bureau.

"I'm not going to be content until I get this all out into the open," She said to her reflection in the bathroom mirror as she pinned her hair into a tight bun on the top of her head and applied more make up than she was used to wearing.

As she glared at herself, anger and determination in her eyes, she realized that she looked aggressively beautiful, almost shockingly so. Abigail had never been one to admire herself and although she didn't believe herself homely looking, or even unattractive, she hadn't allowed herself to be beautiful.

"No one is going to mess with you today," She said to her reflection before she turned and walked back into the bedroom where she had laid her secondary weapon down on the bed. Abigail, as an agent, was used to carrying an FBI issued weapon as well as a secondary weapon given to her at her graduation by her father. This was all that she would be carrying on this day. It wasn't for the purpose of using it on her unsuspecting victim because she knew that there was going to be some pretty violent behaviors today, but the weapon was more for comfort and familiarity. On this day, Abigail the FBI agent was standing by, waiting in the wings for her cue, while Abigail the woman, angry and scorned by her partner and closest friend was ready to do battle.

The drive up to Quantico wouldn't be a long one; relatively speaking Abigail's condo was on the right side of the city to make the journey while William's was not. If there was any change in her resolve Abigail would have plenty of time to turn around, stop the motion of her assault and turn back. As the morning light woke the sleeping world her resolve was unshaken, and her need for confrontation became more acute. She was going to face off with William once and for all, say everything that needed to be said and move on. This was it.


	34. Verses

Chapter 34: Verses

William stood, clipboard in hand as he sipped his morning coffee. He had survived his first day, tormented by the things he had done and yet too busy to be able to do anything about it. He had felt remorse all day for leaving Abigail and for lying to her, but at the same time he had wondered how it had taken so long for him to finally give up on the whole relationship. He even began to wonder how they had never crossed the boundaries, which they crossed, before. He and Abigail had had many of chances to be intimate, they shared moments in fear and happiness all through their partnership, and yet, there was ill treatment and passion that had never amounted to anything. Though his mind had calmed down, and a part of him told knew that she was the only one he would ever have strong feelings for, he knew that the time had passed for the two of them and though there were many days left ahead of him, he wasn't about to continue trying to convince her or follow her without anything being given in return. Regret for how they had acted was still steeping in his mind, and more often then not, he was distracted by the vivid images that his mind continued to fall back on, but he carried on in the work that he was assigned, as there wasn't anything else he could do at the moment.

Before the end of his first shift, at his new job, he had decided to call her, to talk to her if possible and to apologies, but he believed that doing it in some way where they wouldn't have to meet face to face would be the best course of action. He knew what was going on with him, biologically, he had started putting the pieces together and although he loved Abigail he knew what he had done was, in part, planned and destined to happen. By the time he had arrived back at his apartment and determined that it wouldn't do to stay in this location for much longer, he fell asleep and another night passed him by without the important words being spoken between them. Morning arrived again, the long drive up the Quantico loomed over him like a thunder cloud and the sinking, foreboding feeling that something was about to go array followed him all the way back to his lab. As he changed into his scrubs, poured himself a cup of coffee and began to plan out his course of action, the foreboding faded away and was replaced with the an overwhelming feeling for the daunting tasks that were piling up all around him. Autopsies and class schedules were filling up all of his time, and though it was only his second day, he was already familiar with the work that had to be done. It was time now to jump in, head first, and get down to business. Even with all that had happened, the swiftness of his departure and his guilt over what had happened with Abigail, William was cheerful and ready to begin his work when Doctor Holms walked into his box maze of an office, her lab coat trailing behind her and coffee steaming in her hand.

"You survived your first day," she stated cheerfully as William placed his clipboard down on the newly purchased desk and smiled at his superior. "And yet your office looked like you have only just arrived." She laughed.

"I have only just arrived," William stated, "and it's going to stay like this until I can get myself settled a little closer to Quantico. The commute leaves me no time at all to get things organized here. I thought that it would work out for a while, but I didn't realize the work load you people would put on me!" he added teasingly.

"We're happy to see you diving right into your work." Doctor Holms stated. "We can set you up in residence if that would be more appropriate for now."

"Thanks, but no thanks," William laughed, "I remember what residence was like and I am definitely not going back to that! I'll find a place on my own; you'll just have to live with an unorganized office until then."

"My office is immaculate; you have to deal with this chaos!" Holms smiled. "I'll ask around with some of our other professors and doctors to see if they know of any vacancies in the area. It's the least we can do for scooping you up and relocating you so quickly. We are very grateful to have you, though, and we are going to do every thing that we can to make you comfortable and help you settle into this new job. You are just what this institution needed, Doctor Blake, and we do appreciate you coming to work with us."

"It's my pleasure," William stated blankly as something caught his attention and his heart sank.

"What is it?" Holms asked turning to see what had caught his attention.

William had spotted what had set his nerves on edge. Walking toward his office was an angry and aggressive ex-partner. Abigail dressed in her finest suit, looking as powerful and aggressive as the men in black, had just stepped off the elevator at the end of the hall and had spotted him as soon as she set foot on the floor.

"Isn't that your old partner?" Doctor Holms asked sipping her coffee and leaning casually in to whisper to William.

"Yes," William stated as he straightened up, seeing the change in Abigail's composer to see another woman standing so close to him.

Jealousy had, for a split second, reared its ugly head as Abigail marched toward them.

"You have unfinished business in violent crimes?" Doctor Holms asked.

"It would seem that way," William said as he composed himself as best as he could and sipped his cooling coffee as Abigail walked into the office.

"I'll see you at lunch then," Doctor Holms stated as Abigail entered, "good morning Agent Ventallo," She added as she walked out of the office.

Abigail nodded in acknowledgement of the woman who passed her but would not speak until she and William were standing alone in the office. Abigail had caught the glimpse of his lacking composure when she had stepped off the elevator and it fueled her resolve to get everything out in the open.

"What are you doing here?" William asked as he lowered his eyes to his desk and a stack of files knowing that he would never be able to break the piercing gaze that Abigail had fixed on him.

"Seriously, you don't know?" Abigail asked angrily.

"I expected an angry phone call, but I didn't expect you to skip out on your precious X-files to come all the way out here," William stated and regretted his comments immediately.

"You don't know me at all, do you?" Abigail fumed, "I thought you, of all people, would know that I would need to come out here and castrate you verbally before I could do it literally." She added, folding her arms and standing aggressively between William and his exit.

"I deserve it," William said in a whisper realizing that his office door was opened, "but this is my place of employment, Abigail. Can't this wait till we're alone?"

"It would make me feel much better to embarrass you out right, in front of this whole department," Abigail hissed. "In my mind, if I were you, I would prefer it this way. At least out in the open, with agents, professors and other doctors around, I won't be able to murder you and get away with it."

"You're armed?" William asked.

"Always, honey, but you know that already!" Abigail stated sarcastically.

"I know we need to have this talk, but I can't do it now. I have too much work to do." William stated as he stepped lightly and walked around Abigail and out of his office.

"You can't avoid me forever!" Abigail yelled, catching everyone attention, as William passed through the hall and escaped into the stairwell.

Abigail bolted after him, down the hall and into the staircase, believing that he had taken off completely, but as she heard the fire door click behind her she felt an arm around her waist pulling her toward the roof exit.

"What the hell are you doing?" Abigail screamed as she felt her weapon pulled from its usual place and she was forced out onto the roof of the medical center.


	35. Fight

Chapter 35: Fight

The sun was bright in the late summer sky as William pulled Abigail out onto the roof and before she could gain her balance or even register where they were, William had disarmed her, taking her concealed weapon from the place he knew she always kept it, and backing away from her quickly before she could retaliate. It took a few moments for her eyes to focus in the bright light of the summer sun, but she could hear William and knew the actions he was going through. He quickly pulled the release on her weapon and emptied the unused ammunition onto the concrete roof before handing her the weapon back and kicking the bullets to one side.

"What the hell are you doing?" Abigail yelled again watching as her weapon became useless and her voice echoed off the stone and disappeared into the vastness of the sky that opened up around her.

"At least now, there is less of a risk of me getting shot." William stated.

"Oh and you don't have some super, secret power that is going to heal you?" Abigail stated seething with rage.

"What are you talking about?" William asked aggressively.

"You know I can still use this as a club!" Abigail stated angrily holding her gun by the barrel and rushing toward William.

"Hit me if it will make you feel better," William yelled, stopping her in her tracks. He had never yelled like that before.

"I'd rather slash all the tires on your car!" Abigail screamed, tears burning at the corner of her eyes "break all the windows and key that beautiful cherry red paint job or maybe I should break into your apartment and completely destroy everything! Trash the place like a rock star and then disappeared because it would be easier than facing you or maybe telling the god awful truth for a change."

"Go for it if it will make you feel better," William stated throwing his arms in the air, "my car is already ruined from our attack on the highway, so you can't do much worse. Just and and do it already." He added, his anger growing with every second, "but you won't. You're all talk, and no action! You don't know how to deal when someone stands up to you. You can't handle not being the alpha!"

"What I can't handle is being lied to and taken advantage of!" Abigail screamed as she threw her gun to the ground and pushed William as she yelled, "all you've ever done is lie to me!"

"Lie to you?" William hissed grabbing her by the wrists and pinning them to her sides, "it's the only way to get by without becoming your lab rat!" he yelled.

"Lab Rat!" Abigail screamed breaking out of his grasp and backing away from him, "how many time have you doctored me, babied me when I've gotten hurt, lectured me about what I have done with my career and the failure that I have become in your eyes? I'm your pet project, the little helpless girl that always needs the noble doctor. If anyone's been a lab rat, it's been me! I get it, I know what people say about me and the things I pursuer, but I thought you were different, I thought I could trust you and that you were open minded enough to come to understand. I just wanted someone in my corner, someone that could make me feel like I wasn't the lunatic that everyone says I am, but I was wrong, and you think I'd make you a Lab Rat? Wow, what does that make me in your mind? I'm the big bad bitch, the crazy paranoid schizophrenic? Thanks William, I feel even better about myself now. You've proven that you are so much better, and smarter than me, and then you have the audacity to lie to me, to my face, about one of the most important truths of my career? Oh yeah, right after you took advantage of me for the second time! But, no, I'm not mad about that, I was all into it, it felt great, but boy do I regret ever telling you anything. You should have asked for a new partner long ago. It would have saved us all this aggravation and awkwardness. Then you would have never had to worry about me, or the X-files, or keeping your secrets. But no, you followed me, you worked with me and you listened to me, all the while you were keeping secrets, making me believe that you didn't believe in what I was, or even the existence of extraterrestrial life. You could have just given me something that may have put us on the same playing field for once in the years that we worked together as partners, cause god knows that the sex totally fuck up any equality that we may have had at any point in our time together. Bravo sir, you've proven yourself just like the rest of them. You are arrogant, insensitive, completely self centered and self gratifying. And I trusted you. I have been nothing but honest with you. You've always known what I am, what weird changes were in my DNA, and you couldn't give me one little piece of information that might make me just a little bit more than a freak of nature to you."

"That's what you are pissed off about?" William hissed.

"I am pissed off that I had to hear it from Mulder!" Abigail screamed.

"You were the one that wanted to meet up with the guy!" William stated. "I never wanted to have anything to do with the X-files, but you had to push it, to prove that they were so important and what has it gotten you? Guess what, the colonization that you are so desperate to publicize and preach about is failing!"

"How would you know?" Abigail hissed.

"Mulder told you what I am, but he didn't make you understand who I am," William stated fed up with the interrogation and the accusations. It was his turn to get everything off his chest and as the anger of her words brewed in his mind, he was ready with all his own accusations. He walked in an angry circle, trying to put his thoughts in order as the woman he loved and hated more than anything in that moment seethed with anger before him, tears running down her face, laying at his feet all of the wrongs that he had done over the course of their relationship; all of the things that he had done to protect her.

"I'm it, Abigail." William stated at last, "Let me spell it out for you. I am the X-files. Everything pertaining to aliens comes down to me. I never wanted it to be this way, it's not the life that I wanted, it is the life that I am forced to live. So sue me for wanting something normal, common, and human in my life for once. The attacks were never about you; you were hurt and compromised because of me. So yeah, I doctored you, I played along with the holier than thou attitude that you held over me because you believed you had something to prove as a woman, and I lied about it because I just wanted you to need me for me and not for the sake of the X-files. There, now you have the fuel that you really need to blame me for everything bad that has ever happened in your life. So bring it on, I'm ready to take anything you have to dish out. Yell and scream, hit me if you have to, but it's not going to change the fact that the truth that you have always been searching for has been with you all the time and that the colonization, as far as your imagination has pushed it, will amount to nothing more than a tabloid story and a few million of children born to alien/human parents. No matter how many people are killed, the colonization will have millions of others at their back that are immune to their affects. We are an inter-genetic race, the world is protected and whether or not you want to believe that is up to you, but as far as I am concerned I hold the key to the human survival, I will awaken a dormant knowledge in people and they will take up the cause to save the human race. That is the truth you so desperately wanted to hear. It's kind of a lot for one man, don't you think? Do you blame me for wanting to just be normal or to have life of my own?"

Abigail stared at William, tears streaming down her cheeks, as he confessed the bulk of his secrets in anger and disgust. The look on his face was like pure hatred. His movements and the tones of his voice were unlike anything she had ever heard from him before. He wasn't the happy go lucky surfer boy she had first met, he wasn't the strict, handsome field agent that followed her and fought with her, and he wasn't the passionate lover that two nights of bliss had painted him. He was bitter, lonely, and filled with rage and hatred as his secrets came out. In that moment Abigail wished that she hadn't come, hadn't started this fight and wished that she had never known the truth. They could have carried on, blissfully and contently unaware until time ended, but she had to be stubborn and aggressive. She had to know the truth, and the truth hurt.

"How long have you known this?" Abigail choked as she stared at the ground.

"All my life," William stated. "I didn't have a childhood, it was robbed from me. I spent it with beings that looked like me, talked like me, but didn't live here. I didn't have parents, I was brought up by strangers, hundreds of them, and all I learned of compassion was that it was my destiny to save the human race. I have known since before I came back to this planet what my purpose was, and now, as this year comes to a close I know what I have to do. But all I want to do is live my life. Is that so much to ask for? I want a chance to be happy. I'd give up everything, god if you knew what I would give up just to be normal." He added completely fed up. "I guess I should be thanking you, in some way. At least I know my parents now, though I have been warned not to seek them out. It's the story of my life." he added with a heavy and hate filled sigh.

"I'm sorry," Abigail whispered as William turned his back to her and looked out at the skyline and the parkland that surrounded the academy campus. Abigail bent down and picked up her weapon from the ground, gathered the ammunition as best as she could. She was overcome with dread and embarrassment, and she turned to leave the roof.

"Did you ever love me?" William's voice pierced the silence that had gathered around them.

Abigail turned slowly to find him staring at her. His stance was filled with aggression. The anger was in his breathing, tension was in his shoulders and in the way he shifted from side to side, but his eyes were pleading for an answer.

"That's all I want to know, was there ever in all this insanity the glimmer of something else? Could you ever see me as anything more?" he asked.

"Yes," she whispered and before she could see the change in his composure she disappeared, leaving him alone on the medical centers roof in the brilliance of the midday sun.


	36. Alone

Chapter 36: Alone

"God damnit," William cursed aloud as the door shut behind Abigail and she disappeared once again.

The change that had come over them both was dramatic, everything came out into the open and the truth that he most wanted to hear, even with all the anxiety and anger toward one another was there, the word that resounded in his ears, she had loved him.

They had fought before, anger on both side, but he had always been the one that relented. He had always been the one to calm down first, to talk of reason into the situation and ultimately they were able to continue on in their work relationship, but this fight was different. Abigail had been the one to relent, she had crumbled to his anger, she was shocked by his forcefulness, and in a moment he saw regret and heart ache in her every movement. But now she was gone.

"How did I screw this up?" he asked himself as he paced the length of the medical center rooftop.

William knew that he would have to return to his miserably disorganized office sooner or later, but all he wanted at that moment was to stare off into nothingness while his mind wandered and his heart ached. His superiors would wonder where it was that he had gone, but William knew that his composure and his thoughts were not with him. They were with Abigail and the fight that they had just brought to the forefront of their relationship. In the past the anxiety and aggression that they had felt for one another usually subsided in one or the other, in the partnership, giving in, usually William. Nothing really resolved itself, but with everything that had happened in the past few weeks, Abigail's stay in the hospital, the meeting with Mulder and Scully, and the time drawing nearer to the colonization that would ultimately fail, something had drastically changed in William and he didn't like what he had become. _Why can't I just be that man I once was? Why can't I be oblivious, fun loving? Abigail had seen it once and whether she liked it or not that was me. I'm not that guy anymore. I don't like what I have become and yet I wanted this. I wanted this kind of a job, I want to be a doctor, I want to have a family, and I want to just live my life_. William thought to himself as he paced the length of the roof. _And I still want to be with Abigail._

"I know what is going on, I get it!" William yelled at the heavens as he stood angrily in the bright, warm sunshine. "This can't be all that I am for." He said to himself as the reality of his situation sunk in.

The demands that his mind and his body were bringing into his being should not have caught him off guard. He had known for a very long time, since before he had come into this world and this life, what he was meant to do, but he did not want it to involve Abigail. He wanted things to be different with her. He had known as much when he had first met her, long ago on the beaches of their first encounter, but she wasn't as guarded as he was. She was an open book, ready to read and understand, always wanted to learn more about what was happening in the world and completely ready to believe in everything paranormal and extraterrestrial. She was proud of what she was, and wanted to help other, but he had always been ashamed of the truth that ruled his life and secretive to protect her.

"Why did I have to fall in love with her?" he asked himself as he made his way back to the stair well, confident enough that Abigail would not be behind the door when he opened it. He was sure that everything that had been said was enough to chase her away for good, but if anything was to happen between them, he was sure that the affects of his alien DNA and the actions that had lead up to the fight were enough for him to have put into motion the events that he was dreading. If there was one thing he knew, it was his destiny, and whether he liked it or not, Abigail would probably have to deal with what was to come nine months from now. There was no doubt in his mind what their actions would lead to. She would know soon enough and then what would happen?

"What if I don't really love her," he said as he stood in the dark contrast of the stairwell. The sun had been bright and caused temporary blindness as he entered the dimly lit stairwell. He waited for a moment, contemplating everything that had happened, while he waited for his eyes to adjust to the darkness. _Can I possibly convince myself that I never really loved her and that what happened, my feeling, were just a result of my awkward, ridiculous, history? Was what happened between us just the product of our need to procreate? _He thought as he found his way back through the building and to the office where the altercation had first taken place. _It would all be just another lie, I do love her and I always will_, he thought as he moved robotically through the maze of boxes. The files that he had to work on were still laying on his desk. The boxes were still piled around waiting to be unpacked. Nothing had changed except his relationship with Abigail and even then he wasn't sure what had happened.

William fell into his desk chair and lowered his head into his hands. Suddenly his head was spinning, the tears pricked at the edge of his eyes, and all of his hopes, dreams and ambitions seemed to leave with the shutting of the rooftop door. Abigail had walked out of his life and he regretted what was to come for her. _Had he inadvertently put the end into motion because his passion for that woman was too much for him to control?_ His thoughts clouded his mind, while his tears burned down his cheeks.

Abigail drove as fast as she could away from the medical center and the campus of the FBI training academy. Her eyes stung, her breath caught in her throat, it was like she was escaping from the truth, but it was with her now and determined to follow her where ever she would run. There was no escape. She wanted to shut her mind, push everything back into the deepest recesses and forget, but his image was burned into the back of her mind, his voice rang in her ears and his eyes broke her heart into a million pieces.

Leaving William on the roof was the most difficult thing she had ever done, but she didn't know what else to do. The look on his face, the years of neglect and unhappiness stared at her, and the question she had most feared in all her life had been asked. She hardly knew what she had said when the confession came out of her mouth. The emotions were running so high, and then the fear had struck her. She loved him more than she had ever loved anyone in all of her life, but she had never known how to tell him. She rushed into the stairwell, and flew with all the speed she could muster out of her legs down as far as the stairs would take her. She ended up in the basement of the building, just off from the parking garage where she had left her car and before she knew it she was driving far too quickly off the campus and onto the main roads.

Before Abigail knew what had happened she pulled into her parking space at the condo and found her way back to her apartment. Everything was once again in immaculate order. Everything from her desk and the beautiful leather chaise, to the pillows and throws that belonged on the sofa; they were in their proper places and were once again inviting the world in, but all Abigail could do was look around her. It was once again like walking into a magazine, everything was so picture perfect. Abigail stared for a long moment, unable to move from the entrance, unable to decide whether to walk through the kitchen or to fall into the sofa and cry herself to sleep. She was to afraid of touching the things that had no meaning to her, except for the fact that they were her possessions, and they had all been pushed aside in one swift moment for a man whom she had never let herself believe she was truly in love with, but the truth was out there. She had opened her mouth and one small, insignificant word had escaped; the truth.

"I'm so alone," She whispered to herself staring into the void, the emptiness of her apartment. Outside, as she looked out at the view that she had always taken for granted, she knew that the world was carelessly moving on in oblivion, and once again, Abigail was simply an insignificant bystander. Life had always been passing her by.

Abigail kicked her shoes carelessly into a corner, through her blazer onto the leather chaise, and fell into the sofa as she kicked the throw and the pillows onto the floor. Suddenly the condo seemed like it was lived in and the things that had been so important and needed to be in their proper places didn't matter anymore. The truth stung like a million knives piercing her heart and Abigail curled into a ball and cried herself to sleep.


	37. Together

Chapter 37: Together

The remainder of the day passed in a haze of actions and voices, but nothing really registered in William's mind. He performed his duties, as they had been assigned to him within the learning facility, and moved on to the establishment of his office; opening box after box and emptying it into places he wasn't even sure were right for the papers, files and possessions. He hadn't brought much with him, his former cubicle held very little, but when he had arrived at Quantico he had found the office filled with boxes, many of them still covered in plastic, and he knew that they had been bought to furnish a respectable mans office. By the end of the day, William's mind had still not cleared. His thoughts were still flowing between what his destiny had predetermined for him and what his heart was telling him. He knew that Abigail was alone, his heart ached for her, and he knew that she would be in the one place that would make her feel more alone than anywhere else.

Leaving the building on his second day felt like an escape. He wanted to be away from the decisions that had brought him to this point. He wasn't sure why he had accepted this change in his life, why he had ever gotten as mad as he had on the side of the highway, or even why he was now doubting every decision he had made throughout his life. As he drove away from the campus and down the freeway into the heart of the city he found his surroundings becoming more familiar and without knowing why he had done it he pulled into the visitor parking at the condo that he had left just one day previously.

Abigail was shocked out of her slumber as the buzzer rang for the apartment. She had never heard it before; no one ever came looking for her in this place and when William had found her there before he had managed to sneak in, but her heart skipped a beat in the hopes and the dread that it might be William who buzzed.

"Yes," Abigail's voice came over the speaker, it was shaky and cautious.

"It's me," William said softly, "I think we should talk."

The buzzer sounded again and the door clicked as it unlocked. William practically jumped at the door as he pulled it open and rushed for the stairs. Running, as fast as his legs could carry him, he bolted up the twelve stories to the upper most floors and found, to his surprise that Abigail was standing in the door to her apartment waiting for him. Her hair was a mess, her clothing wrinkled and she looked like she had been crying, but her manner was stern and questioning.

The crisp, clean, suit that she had worn to the confrontation was now just a wrinkled blouse and a pair of dark pants, her feet were bare, her hair tangled and messy. William had never seen her look so miserable looking or as discouraged as he did now, and they had gotten themselves into many compromising situations over the course of their partnership. Abigail had always taken pride in her professional appearance, it gave her airs of being more than she was, but here she was; a mess and oblivious to the fact. She lowered her eyes to the floor as he walked up to her and he could tell that just his presence was about to make her cry again. He froze. He wanted to reach out and pull her into his arms. His body longed to hold her, to feel her again close to him and the instincts that he knew were ruling his life wanted her so badly, but he couldn't do it. He couldn't reach out. He fought every thought and desire of what had passed between them just night before, and only stared as her composure crumbled.

"What do you want to talk about?" she asked not daring to look him in the eyes as she ran her bare foot over the division between her apartments hardwood floor and the tiles of the hallway. She felt small, insignificant and vulnerable as she stood before him. She could feel his eyes on her and she felt guilty because of what had passed between them. She wanted to hide in the darkness of her apartment or fall into the shower and cry as she prayed for the water to wash away the guilt and the awkwardness, but she couldn't move with him standing so close to her now.

"I think we have everything to talk about," William said standing before her, "everything that has passed between us in the past five years. Everything that we were afraid to say in any moment that passed between us in the years that we have been working together, and everything we've never said but thought about. I want to get to know you properly and I want you to know that I'm sorry."

Abigail finally looked up at him, his eyes pleaded with her and he rung his hands nervously, but there was something in his eyes. He was distressed and uncomfortable, and there was truth in the way he looked and spoke. He was not lying now, he couldn't lie anymore. William, the man, stood before her and he could only tell the truth. His face was warn, his eyes were dark and blood shot, he had been crying as well and Abigail could see the vulnerability in him. It was something that had never been there before. He was just as lost and uncomfortable as she was. This really was like their first meeting.

William had showed up at the apartment completely without thinking. He still wore a brand new pair of running shoes and his medical issued scrubs. He looked out of place in the hall of the luxury condo, and yet, Abigail was sure there were other doctors that lived in the building with her, but she had never seen them before. This man who stood before her, however, was a stranger. She wasn't used to seeing him this way. The dark suit, aviator glasses and properly polished shoes were gone and in his place stood a medical man, his eyes filled with longing and desire, and yet he seemed lost and out of place.

"Come in," she said as she sighed and stepped aside. Abigail turned and walked into the kitchen, William following behind her as she began looking into the barren refrigerator. "I hope you're not hungry because I don't have any food here." She stated slamming the refrigerator door, tears in her eyes at the realization of how ridiculous her situation seemed. "And all I have to drink is a warm bottle of white wine." She added throwing open cabinet doors and slamming them again. She sighed heavily and choked on the breath that she took in. she was a miserable sight, and yet, she didn't seem to care. She dried her eyes with the sleeve of her blouse, leaving traces of her mascara there, and slowly made her way through her kitchen like a lost and injured animal.

"We could order in," William stated taking the bottle of wine from her and placing it in the fridge. "By the time the food gets here the wine will have chilled."

"Ok, but I don't think I have wine glasses." Abigail said softly as she handed an outdated phone book to William and walked past him again.

"What are you in the mood for?" he asked as he peaked around the kitchen wall and watched as she walked into the bedroom. She was gone for a few moments. William wasn't sure if he should follow her, or if he should wait, but he looked around and saw that the apartment had been cleaned and yet there were things that were out of place. Within a few uneasy moments, as William contemplated the remains of the broken lamp her could see on the corner of the desk, Abigail reappeared.

"It doesn't matter," she said, her voice shaking like she was once again on the brink of tears as she stepped out of the bedroom pulling the heavy down comforter off her bed and wrapping it around herself before she fell onto the sofa. "I'm not really hungry," she sighed and stared blankly out the window. She had changed from her suit pants and blouse into sweats and a t-shirt. They looked brand new, never worn, never lived in, like the apartment and she slumped over and rested her head on the arm of the sofa. She had sleepiness in her every movement and vulnerability in her face, as tears still glistened on her cheeks.

"Pizza?" he asked. Seeing this change in her broke his heart. She was a child, fighting her tears, trying to be strong, but failing. It was like Abigail was drowning but she had come to terms with it. The life had fallen away from her and she simply didn't care anymore.

"Does pizza go with white wine?" she asked.

"Not really," he stated and flipped through the phone book some more. "Chinese?"

"Ok."

William dialed a couple of the numbers in the outdated phone book before he got a restaurant still in service. He ordered what he would have bought for them on any other night, had they still been working together, and then came and sat beside Abigail on the sofa.

"So what do you want to talk about?" Abigail asked after a long silence, as they sat together and the sun began to set.

William reached out and turned on the table lamp beside him before answering. "I want to talk about us." He said leaning into Abigail.

"What about us?" Abigail asked as she shifted away from him and sat up straight at her end of the sofa, "we suck at the 'us' factor."

"We were never an 'us' before, we were just partners. That's why we sucked at it," William stated.

"Oh yeah, and it has nothing to do with lying to each other," Abigail stated grudgingly.

"Or putting up fronts to prove ourselves better or smarter than the other," William retorted calmly.

Abigail fell silent and the silence lasted between them for a long and awkward moment.

"I'm sorry I lied to you," William said looking at his hands. "I just hate who I am."

"I'm sorry I treated you like shit," Abigail whispered. "And dragged you into stuff you never were interested in, and killed your pride, damaged your reputation, and questioned your decision making skills. How did you put up with it so long?" she asked with a sigh. "I'm surprised you didn't freak out sooner."

"I took it all in stride because I wanted to be with you," he stated running his fingers nervously through his hair, "and I was interested in some of the work you brought forward," William confessed, "I just didn't want to dive so deeply into it because I knew it already. It was all a terrible reminder of what my life was and will be. I've been living a life that was blocked out and planned since the very beginning. I thought that if I avoided it and just tried to do something else I would forget about it. For a little while it worked, but I can't escape it."

"Does it have to be as terrible as you think it's going to be?" Abigail asked softly finally looking at him. "Is there nothing you can do?"

"I don't know," William sighed, "what ever this year brings, by the end of it, I guess I will know then, or I'll be told to do something else. Who knows, everything in my life was planned up until this year. I know what I have to do, but after that point I'm lost. Maybe that's just the end for me."

"What do you mean?" Abigail asked, fear in her voice.

"I don't know." William admitted.

"So where do we go from here?" Abigail asked. "I mean, from now until the end of 2012, what is there for you?"

"I just have to wait," William stated, "then I initiate the second phase of the resistance, and that's all I know."

"What is the second phase of the resistance?" Abigail asked.

"Procreation," William stated.

"What!" Abigail gasped.

"It's an awakening," William explained, "with a touch or a look or even a word, I'm not really sure how it's going to happen, but I will begin a wave of resistance and people of age, with alien DNA that will withstand the colonizing aliens will begin procreation. That way, as the colonization begins and the first resistance is unaffected by their tactics more and more humans will be born to the resistance and the hope is that the alien colonist will move on, leaving us alone to self-destruct and ruin the planet at out own rate."

"So up until now, how many women have you been with?" Abigail asked sheepishly.

"You are my one and only," William stated, "there hasn't been anyone else and I don't want there to."

"And what if you are meant to procreate with as many people as possible?" Abigail asked, the blush rising in her cheeks.

"Then I'm going to be a pretty miserable failure in the face of the revolution, because I won't do that to you." William stated. "As much as you accused me of taking advantage of you, that was never my intention, I swear to you."

"It was my fault," Abigail stated. "I was afraid I was loosing you, you had never stood up to me before and in a moment I saw you really and truly leaving me. I didn't know what to do, so I did what I thought most men wanted."

"It's not just your fault. I wanted it; I just don't think that was the best way we could have expressed out feelings to each other," William sighed. "Our relationship all sort of happened differently in my mind. What happened was more a result of the alien connection we share and not our emotions."

Abigail fell silent again. She had never thought about what the alien connection could have meant. The things that he was telling her had never registered and yet it made sense, the colonization, the procreation, it all fit together and the actions, their insane passion and the awkwardness all came together.

"It's behind us now," William stated breaking the silence between them again, "It won't happen again. I promise. That's not how I want my part to be played in the resistance."

"You can't risk the human race for me," Abigail said sadly. "You have a duty to protect the people of this planet. If it is what is meant to happen, then you can't go against it."

"Yes, I can." William stated, "I'd like to have some say over my own life."

"And I want some say over my life," Abigail stated aggressively, "and if you think I am going to bare enough children to save the human race you have got another thing coming to you. That's just crazy!"

William looked at Abigail for a moment. She was serious in her statements and yet there was the hint of something else in the way she spoke and the way she looked. She was sad, emotional and honest, but there was also jealousy. Every look of hers was a contradiction. She wanted to save the human race and yet she didn't want to think of him with anyone else. Abigail was torn between two truths that had come to settle in her mind, but William knew what he wanted and her concern and jealously gave him hope, a hope that he had never dared have before. He couldn't help himself and burst out laughing. "I don't think it's up to me to father the revolution, if that is what you're getting at." He stated through his laugher. "There are many, many other people out there that are carrying the alien genes. Not just you and I."

Abigail smiled as she jumped at the sound of the buzzer ringing and their take out was delivered up to the apartment. The delivery boy was paid, the kitchen was raided for dining implements that had never been used before and the bottle of wine was uncorked, which brought Abigail and William back to the sofa where they had been comfortably contemplating the future.

"We probably should have had this talk on the drive back to the city, rather than now." William stated as he sipped his wine from a coffee cup.

"That would have been the smart, more adult thing to do," Abigail stated as she put her take out container on the coffee table and sipped at her own coffee mug of white wine.

William laughed again. There was easiness in his laughter, his smile and his presence. It was like the young, athletic surfer sat beside Abigail on the sofa, not the strict, jaded, FBI agent whom had spent the last five years following Abigail like a puppy dog and hating her for her aggressiveness. Gradually, as the night progressed and the take out cleaned up, William's smile became more prevalent. They talked about everything but their time together as FBI agents. Genuine good humor fell upon them, and true comfort and companionship seemed to establish it self between them.

"So where do we go from here?" William asked as he pulled Abigail and her heavy bed comforter into his arms.

"I don't know," Abigail whispered, her mind still somewhat disturbed by the things that had been discussed. "How much time do we have, a few months, maybe less? What if things go terribly wrong?"

"Then I suppose we deal with the balance of power then," William sighed, "for now, what more is there to do. I work at Quantico and I want to enjoy my time away from the Bureau. Being a field agent was great for a little while, but I'm not that kind of guy and I hated what it made me."

"You should be doing medicine anyways, your schooling was going to waste as a field agent," Abigail stated, agreeing with him. "You can do so much more where you are. It is a really great change for you."

"What about you?" William asked.

"I don't know," Abigail confessed, "I feel lost, like I never really knew what I was doing, or if I was doing anything right. Maybe I'm not cut out to be an agent, but I don't know what else I could do, and I don't want to do it alone."

"Ask for a transfer, get into another department, maybe you could come to Quantico and teach." William suggested.

"I don't want to work with you anymore," Abigail stated bluntly and William was taken aback by the comment. "I don't want to work with you anymore, because, if we work together 'we' can't be an 'us'." She added with a sly, teasing smile.

"But if 'we' were an 'us', not working together, I could come home to you every night," William smiled.

"And we could put all this alien business behind us, until we have to deal with whatever is coming," Abigail stated and cuddled into his shoulder, "I have plenty of room here, and this condo has been going to waste for far too long."

"I need to find a place closer to Quantico," William smiled, "relatively speaking; my apartment is way too far away. Yours on the other hand seems amply situated to serve both of our needs."

"So when are you moving in?" Abigail she asked with a yawn.

"How's this weekend looking for you?" he asked.

"I can free it up."

"That might be a good idea; at least I have wine glasses." He smiled.

"Oh and I need those so badly," she giggled sipping her wine once more from her coffee mug.

"I don't understand how this place looks so good, and yet you don't have anything practical in it." William teased looking around.

"I always just used your stuff," Abigail stated as she looked around the condo, "we spent a lot of time at your place."

"That chapter in our lives has ended," William whispered, "its time to start something new."

"So am I to understand that you believe you should stay the night?" she asked playfully.

"I've had too much to drink," William winked as he downed the rest of his wine, "I couldn't possibly drive all that way now."

Abigail smiled up at him. She blushed. He noticed it and pulled her into his arms.

"Should we take this into the bed room?" she whispered as he gently caressed her neck kissing her along her jaw line and down into the nap of her neck.

"If this is what you want," he whispered.

"It is," she sighed feeling the blush come to her cheeks and the desire growing in her body.

William smiled a knowing smile and wrapped his arms around her. Gently he picked her and the blanket up and moved toward the bedroom. This night was going to be different. He proceeded slowly, exploring her body, reading her every curve, and listening as her breath caught in her throat.

Abigail was ready to experience William differently as well. She felt her desire deeply and yet she wanted to take it slowly. She burned under his touch, his kisses gentle and soft on her skin. There was time for them, time that they needed to make up, and the night was spent blissfully getting to know each other and putting their awkward past behind them.


	38. A New Day Dawning

Chapter 38: New Day Dawning

Abigail felt William's breathing, softly on her neck as the sun fell through the curtains and across the bed. His arms were wrapped tightly around her and he slept soundly. Abigail had half expected to wake again and find him gone, fine that the previous night had been nothing but a dream, but there he laid next to her, his arms resting around her and his naked form pressed warmly against her back. She was afraid to move, afraid to break the silence that had fallen and more than anything she was afraid that by bringing about wakefulness she would ruin all the good that had come into her life. To wake him would mean he would have to leave. He would have to go to work and she would be left alone once again. Abigail wanted to remain in this perfectly calm place that was entirely new and exciting for her. There wasn't anything left of their former lives. The demands, all that needed to be proven to one another was gone, and in its place came a kind of attachment that could only be known as love. She felt safe and comfortable laying with him now and wished for sleep to take her away once again.

Moving slowly, Abigail turned to face William. She held her breath as she felt his nakedness against her, but she wanted to look at him, she wanted to see the contentment on his face and it was there. Behind his settled lid waited the dashing brown eyes that had captivated and captured her the night before and his gentle breath was warm on her cheek. He had been gentle, he was strong and he knew exactly what he needed to do to her to make her fall even more madly in love with him than she had already been. Everything felt different, pleasant and right, and now they rested in one another arms. Abigail settled in, even closer now, and sighed peacefully to herself as she shut her eyes and listened to his rhythmic breathing.

"Please tell me its not morning," William whispered his eyes still closed.

"Its not morning," Abigail whispered and kissed the tip of his nose.

"You are a terrible liar," he whispered and blink the sleep out of his eyes.

"It's not a lie, go back to sleep," Abigail stated wrapping her arms around him beneath the blankets and closing her eyes again. "It's still early; there is still time to sleep."

"I have to go to work," William sighed holding her more tightly.

"Call in sick," she whispered. "Go in late," she added. "Don't go in at all. Stay with me."

"I want to," he whispered, kissed her and nuzzled into her neck once again, "but I can't call in on my third day. I have to go in; I still have so much to do to get settled."

Abigail sighed, her arguments were useless and she knew it, but they remained entangled in one another's arms for a long time before William stirred and pulled himself out of the bed. He found his day old scrubs near the bed and pulled them on before falling back into his place beside her and wrapping his arms around her once again.

"What are you going to do today?" He whispered as he pulled her back to him and kissed her gently.

"I'm staying in bed. You can think of me laying here all day, naked, just waiting for you to come back," she stated playfully. "Doesn't that make you want to stay?"

"I want to stay, you know I do," he whispered.

"Then stay, take these dirty scrubs off and get back in this bed," Abigail cooed tugging at his shirt once again. "Do to me what you did last night and don't worry about what is waiting for you."

"I can't," he whispered, "but the idea of you, in this bed, will be with me all day. It will drive me crazy."

"Good," Abigail stated rubbing herself against him and feeling his body react to her advances.

"You've always been able to drive me crazy," he whispered and kissed her.

Abigail pulled at his scrubs and this time he allowed it. His shirt was removed again, his pants fell away and once again he was with her, in her, and falling away from the reality that was waiting for him. If the morning had been drifting by in a sleepy haze, Abigail and William reawakened it and before long they fell together again and drifted off blissfully as they began coming down from the highs they had just reached.

Again the sun fell through the curtains, causing Abigail to stir and waking William in the process.

"Now I'm going to be really late," William whispered still holding her tightly to him.

"Call in sick," Abigail whined, "don't leave me."

"I can't," he sighed and moved to dress him self again, but once he had returned to his clothing he fell back into bed once more.

Abigail sighed contently as he pulled her back into his arms and she inhaled deeply; taking in his smell once more.

"Really what are your plans for today?" William asked again as his arms entwined around her. "Please tell me you have to get up so that I am not forced back into bed with you. I can't possibly be taken in by you again this morning, and if you tell me you are staying in bed all day I will be very jealous."

"I don't have to get up, so there, be jealous." Abigail giggled, "I've taken a leave to deal with life and Monday I think I'm going to simply quit."

"What?" William gasped.

"I don't want to be an FBI agent anymore," she whispered her eyes closing again.

"Then what are you going to do?" he asked with a laugh.

"I don't know." She whispered. "I could go by your apartment and start packing things up, that way our whole weekend isn't wasted with moving you into this apartment."

"You want to waste it in this bed," he teased.

"You bet your sweet ass I do," she giggled.

"I'll leave you my keys," he whispered and kissed her once more. "I have to go to work now."

"Call in sick," she stated once more in a last effort to keep him in his place.

"I can't," he laughed, "but I will be home at five."

"I'll have dinner ready," she smiled as she sat up and watched him leave.

"You might want to bring some of my dishes with you then," he laughed, came back to her side and kissed her once more before turning and exiting the bedroom at last.

Abigail listened for a moment as she heard him at the door before she fell back into her pillow and smiled at the sun that was breaking through her curtains. Something had changed, and it had changed for the better.

She finally rose from her bed, showered and pulled on the sweat pants and t-shirt she had found in the neatly packed closet. Most of her clothing was piled into the trunk of her car, she would have to bring that up to the condo if she wanted to bring anything back with her from William's apartment and she had vowed to her self that she would be bringing as much of his stuff home with her as she could. She moved once again through the kitchen opening and closing cupboards before she stared out the windows at the morning world.

"Note to self," she stated as she watched the sun rise over the buildings, "get some groceries before heading across town." She shook her head at her own reflection in the window glass and smiled. She had plans for the day and for the evening; it was now time to get going.


	39. Friday

Chapter 39: Friday.

Friday at Quantico was a slow day. William hadn't realized how much he had accomplished and how settled he had become until lunch rolled around and the halls of the teaching facility emptied out. He worked diligently all morning, thinking constantly of Abigail, but still accomplishing what he had come in to do. He was happy for the first time in a long time, and although he longed to be with her, to hold her and to just be quiet with her, he knew that he had to make a good impression in this his first days at a new job. Unlike the previous days, this lazy Friday proved to have more calmness and control than the days that has just pasted him by. William's mind was at easy. There wasn't anything to worry about in that moment; he was content with his work, content with his partner and suddenly content with a life that had always been a plague upon him. _How did everything change?_ He thought as he sat down at his desk and looked around the now organized office. Soon all he had left to do was paper work, and although he had settled down at his desk with every intention of getting the work done, his mind wandered away from him. The sun streamed in his office window as his thoughts wandered, once again, to Abigail and the sight of her and her desperation to keep him close earlier that day. He wondered what she was up to, how much she had accomplished and whether or not he should stop and get food because there was nothing else in the apartment. William smiled to himself, shook his head at the distraction that he knew had come over him and began flipping through autopsy reports once again.

Suddenly his phone rang; it startled him out of his thoughts.

"Hello," he said and flipped through the completed files that lay all over his desk.

"There are a Mr. Mulder and a Dr. Scully to see you sir," the receptionist stated on the other end of the line.

"Send them up," William stated and stood from his desk. It hadn't been long since he had been threatened to leave the two former agents alone and now his heart raced as the prospects of seeing his mother and father again came into his mind. He paced the office, straightening his desk, throwing boxes into the hall, and cursing the distractions that had taken over his day. For some strange reason, he was suddenly nervous to see them. He hadn't been when he and Abigail had traveled out to see them, but now, the idea of them being around to see what he had become made him nervous. He wanted to know that his parents were proud, even though he had never known them before. William had always had a strong pull toward his mother and father. He had never known them before, but he knew that so much of his personality was theirs. As he waited for their arrival he wondered what Scully would think to see him now practicing medicine in a great capacity than before, or what Mulder would think to see that he had not given up on his FBI roots. William paced trying to calm his nerves as he waited, and before long he watched as the two people he was so nervous to see walked off the elevator.

Scully arrived looking professional. She had the airs of a doctor. Her wardrobe was primarily business casual and she look like she belonged in a highly respectable position. Mulder looked scruffy. His jeans and jacket were an odd contrast to the professional woman that walked beside him, but in his eyes was the wonder of the place. Many people respected Mulder at Quantico. His profiling skills were unrivaled around the teaching facility and as he walked through the hall, William watched the people stop and stare as he came toward the bank of offices.

"You both cause quite a stir in the academy," William laughed as professors and agents ushered Mulder and Scully toward his office.

"I wasn't aware that you had any connection with Doctor Scully and Agent Mulder," Doctor Holms stated from the door.

"It was a resent development," William smiled, "but I hope to continue the acquaintance. I'm sure I will learn a lot from Doctor Scully." He added.

"Agent Mulder is one of the top specialists in serial profiles," Doctor Holms stated, "you'll learn a lot for him!"

"That would be beneficial if Doctor Blake was a field agent," Mulder laughed, "but as he seems to be focusing on the medical field, I'd have to agree with him. He will learn more from the good Doctor." Mulder added as he smiled at Scully and watched as she blushed.

After the formalities of introductions and welcoming had been completed by those who worked around the academy, Mulder and Scully were shown into William's new office and the door was shut behind them.

"I like this look on you," Scully stated as she and Mulder walked into the office, "there's just something about medical scrubs." She smiled; pride and joy were alive in her eyes.

"Way more comfortable, I'm guessing, then a suit and tie," Mulder stated as he reached out and shook the young man's hand. "But the colour! Yuck!"

"You are colour-blind what would you know," Scully stated.

"Aren't all scrubs mental hospital green?" Mulder asked jokingly.

"No, only mental hospital scrubs are mental hospital green, we can admit you if you want to prove me wrong," Scully teased.

"Mine are grey," William laughed.

"That's not even a colour!" Mulder stated. "Who runs this place?"

"Not you!" Scully laughed. "Stop acting like a crotchety old man!"

"But that's what I am!" Mulder stated.

William laughed out loud as Scully rolled her eyes and tossed a stray strand of youthful red hair over her shoulder.

"I wasn't expecting to see you here," William stated motioning for them to take the seats before his desk as he settled himself and hoped that his nervousness didn't betray him.

"I'm not surprised," Mulder laughed, "We've just come by to check up on you, son, make sure you're carrying on as a gentleman should."

"Mulder stop!" Scully stated still laughing.

"The tests came back positive," William stated with a smile, "there are people in this world you can trust."

"And science," Scully added.

"Mostly science, it normally doesn't lie," William laughed.

"You see, I am a crotchety old man, I have a grown son, what more do you want from me, woman?" Mulder stated.

"Fine if that's what you want to believe yourself be my guest," Scully stated. "Just don't bring me down with you."

"You don't look a day over thirty five," Mulder smiled lovingly.

"You better believe it," Scully stated rolling her eyes in Mulder's direction.

"So what brings you all the way out here?" William asked trying to stifle his laughter and hoping that some day he and Abigail could be as care free and loving as the couple before him. "I mean this is quite a jaunt for you, isn't it?"

"Every once in a while Mulder likes to come into the city, cause some chaos and then escape to the country again." Scully smiled. "I'm just here to provide medical attention in the event he gets himself into trouble."

"Is Quantico considered the city?" Mulder asked.

"Not really, no," Scully answered, "but did you hear the whispers when you got off the elevator?"

"Spooky is in the building," Mulder laughed.

"They weren't all about your past," William smiled, "the rookies and the new recruits are avid fans of your writing, not to mention most of the professors and senior officers. You are a celebrity and a mystery to most of them. I think you've caused quite a stir." He added as he watched a pack of students pass his office window and stare in at them.

"Did you ever imagine anything like that?" Scully laughed.

"Not in a million years," Mulder laughed, "But in all seriousness, we've come because we have been sent here."

"By whom?" William asked.

"By the syndicate," Mulder confessed, "a man named Austen sent me to warn you. I am not sure we are meant to trust him, but his policies seem straight forward enough."

"You trust him enough to come out here?" William asked unconvinced, "the men in black told us not to seek you out, threatened us on our way home from the trip we made to see you. I wasn't expecting any other involvement as long as I stayed here."

"That's what they want," Mulder stated, "but they also want you to know that you have to lay low, as low as possible, until the New Year."

"Shouldn't be hard when all you deal with are corpses," Scully smiled.

"I'm a teacher as well," William stated.

"That's why they pay him the big bucks," Mulder stated proudly.

"So you are among the living," Scully stated.

"Unfortunately," William laughed, "the corpses are much more interesting at times. Most of the students, from what I have observed so far, are pretty much corpses from 8am till lunch anyway. So the transition has been easy enough. Then again I've only been here for three days, so I am even more shocked that you've found me here."

"I went looking for you only days after your visit and found that you were packed up and shipped off." Mulder stated.

"I was very happy to hear you had gotten back into medicine," Scully smiled.

"It's a step in the right direction," William smiled.

"So when I am too old to support you're mother, you're going to have enough money to do it right?" Mulder joked.

"If we make it that far into the future, I hope so," William answered with a smile.

"See Scully, he is a momma's boy!" Mulder laughed.

Scully blushed, but was concerned with William's statement, "why wouldn't we make it to the future?" she asked looking at her son seriously now.

"Things are just not planned out that far ahead," William answered, "I don't know what my usefulness will be in the near future."

"I do," Mulder smiled, "the colonization, as far as we know it, is failing and you hold the key."

"I know," William smiled, "and I need to lay low because the revolution is working already. One day the second phase will begin, but for now, the colonizing aliens are on the retreat, so what use am I to the world later on?"

"You're a doctor, you save lives, isn't that useful enough?" Mulder asked.

"Maybe by then we'll need you in a strictly research position to account for the biological changes in the human condition. There will always be super bugs and strains of all kinds of viruses that need to be broken down and figured out," Scully stated.

"Is that your retirement plan?" Mulder asked. "Leave the patients behind and study only the diseases?"

"Why not, it's a great puzzle," William smiled.

"When I'm fed up with dealing with people, I think I may move in that direction," Scully laughed.

William thought for a moment, saw the world around him of autopsies and training and knew that Mulder was right, eventually he would move on, establish himself and continue to work for the greater good.

"How did you know all of this?" Scully asked looking at William cautiously. "I mean, who told you about everything that was coming and what you are meant to do?"

"I've known a lot of things for a long time. That doesn't mean I know what the future holds and what kind of a freak show the government is going to make me into, but for now, peacefulness and quiet is all that I am instructed to carry out." William answered his composure bring comfort to his mother.

"What about Hyper Fertility?" Mulder asked. "Do you know about that?"

"Yes, it's phase two of the planned resistance." William answered with a laugh.

"What was phase one?" Scully asked.

"That was your unexpected pregnancy and ultimately my destiny." William answered. "You see, you were always far more important than many let on. You had some very important protectors in very high places." He added with a smile. "It's why you have lived."

Mulder and Scully looked at one another and then back to the man that sat before them. William had shown, more than before, the resemblances to the family and a smile and knowledge that brought ease to their minds. He was a regal looking man, in his scrubs and sitting behind his desk, but there was knowledge and understanding in his eyes. He knew more than he was letting on, and took great pride in the knowledge that he held.

"I still don't understand how you know all this." Scully said still feeling confused.

"Like I told you, just after I was adopted I was abducted, I spent many years away from this planet learning what I had to do and when I returned, I was like this. It was all for my benefit and that of this planet. No one searched for me, I was left alone and then when things were settled enough, peaceful enough, I was returned to this planet. I've known what my destiny was since I was a child. It's the future that I'm not really sure about, but for some reason, I'm excited." William explained. "Maybe for once I will be in control of my own life."

"You can seek happiness," Scully smiled lovingly.

"I think I may have found it," William confessed.

"Well, then it would seem that my work is done here," Mulder stated leaning back in the chair.

"Mulder!" Scully scolded.

"What, I did what I was sent here to do, and you're content with the way his life is panning out. I hope you feel easy and content enough to say your son is alive and well and following in your medical footsteps!" Mulder stated.

"I am proud," Scully smiled. "I hope the future brings us closer together."

"I've only just found you," William smiled, "I'm not about to let you go that easily. If I have to wait till the New Year then I will, but I hope you don't mind having me in your lives."

"Not at all," Scully said, fighting back her tears.

"So now that this is all settled," Mulder stated as he motioned to his emotional partner and his smiling son, "I guess there really isn't much left for me."

"What are you talking about, Mulder?" Scully asked looking at him cautiously.

"Well, with the colonization over what is there left for me? Conspiracy theories… they are based on alien involvement and that's all gone to shit, so what else is there?" Mulder asked.

"You need a hobby," Scully laughed.

"Maybe I'll take up surfing," Mulder stated.

"Like hell you will," Scully scolded.

William laughed. "You fight like an old married couple," he stated.

"We worked together as partners for nine years, he nearly got me killed numerous times and I saved his life more times than I can count, and now we live together," Scully stated, "we practically are an old married couple."

"Maybe that's the next step," Mulder stated, "we should get married."

"Are you serious?" Scully asked, shocked by his comment.

"Yeah. Why not?" Mulder stated. "We're at a point in our lives where things have just leveled out. It's a good place. It's about time I stopped calling you my partner and started calling you my wife."

"It has nothing to do with the fact that he loves me," Scully stated rolling her eyes and trying to cover her emotion, because she really was flattered and nearly at the point of tears.

"I think it's a great idea," William smiled, "and no matter what, I will be there."

"See what you have to look forward to?" Mulder stated taking Scully's hand, "Hold onto it and hopefully it will last. Nice office by the way, looks like you have a view, I was never this lucky."

William laughed at the man before him and realized just how much like Mulder he was. Their sense of humor wasn't quite the same, but the adventure in his personality and the spontaneity seemed to still be with him. William hoped that one day he would be able to find that again, and the happiness he saw that passed between his two biological parents.

"I was lucky enough to be inducted into the violent crimes division after your former office was turned into a copy machine grave yard," William stated with a laugh, "but even then, the cubicle space was less than appealing. This is a step up, but I wanted a corner office."

"You could have your own practice," Scully stated.

"It may be my next step," William smiled, "for now, I'm laying low, remember."

"Corner offices come with too much responsibility," Mulder stated, "leave it to someone else. Then, if you need time to yourself, you can just disappear for a while."

"Good advice pops," William smiled.

"I feel really old," Mulder said as he turned and looked at Scully.

"You would rather I called you Mulder?" William asked.

"No, Fox is fine," Mulder stated.

"Alright," William smiled.


	40. Home

Chapter 40: Home

William spent his lunch break in easy, earnest conversation with the parents he had lost long ago. He learned about his history, his family, and all that had happened as it pertained to his parents and the X-files. They all parted ways in high spirits and before William knew what had happened his day ended and he believed himself happier than he had ever been. Gathering his things, and changing out of his scrubs and into the professional attire that he had left in his locker, he descended the stairs to the parking garage and found his way to his vehicle. The parking garage was filled with people rushing to their vehicles and heading to their lives outside of work. On any other day of the week the parking garage wouldn't have been so busy, but because it was Friday, everyone was trying to leave at the same time. It had been a long time since William had thought about a life other then work, but now he looked forward to it. He climbed into his vehicle, threw his bag of belongings on the back seat and started the engine.

A white sheet of paper pinned to the window by the windshield blade caught his attention. He stepped out of the car and grabbed it. On the sheet was an unfamiliar handwriting, written in black and clearly written in a hurry. He stopped for a moment, felt his side instinctively where his weapon once rested and fell back into his car as he realized he was not armed. Sitting behind the steering wheel, his heart beating, he read the note.

_ You are always being watched, Doctor Blake. Serve your purpose and cooperate, and you will have no further troubles in your life, but go against us and our plans for the retreat of the alien colonizing forces and we will destroy you and everyone you love. We know everything about you, William; watch who you put your trust in and who you don't, or we will destroy your career like we did your fathers. Take Mulder as an example, and don't risk your life, or the lives of your parents and your lover. _

_ We will contact you when we need you._

_ Austen_

William angrily balled up the piece of paper and threw it over his should. All of his easiness of mind and contentment had left him. He looked frantically around the busy parking garage but saw nothing out of the ordinary. He knew that his life had always been an open book to many people, but he had not been used to the threats. For now, all William could think about was Abigail and making sure she was alright. He slammed the car into reverse and peeled out of his parking spot.

His heart beat frantically as he pulled into visitors parking at the condo and rushed to the front door. The buzzer buzzed loudly at the entrance and he waited, holding his breath, until he heard her voice.

"Hello," Abigail said cheerfully.

"It's me," William stated trying to calm him self down.

The buzzer buzzed again and the door clicked to signal it had unlocked itself. William walked quickly to the elevator and pressed the button; waiting for the doors to open, he tried to calm his breathing. Abigail was alright, she was at home and she seemed cheerful enough. At least she had not been threatened.

The elevator climbed slowly and William thought about the events leading up to that moment. He wasn't surprised, after the shock wore off, that he had received such a threat. Mulder had mentioned this Austen character and his ties to the syndicate and William had always known he was being monitored by someone or something. The elevator stopped, the electronic voice announced the floor and the doors swept open. Four strong strides took him down the hall and to the door before he knocked.

"How fast did you dive?" Abigail asked, smiling, as she answered the door. "You said you got off at five, it's only five thirty. It should have taken you longer."

William reached out pulled her into his arms and pushed her through the door, slamming it behind him and locking it as he kissed her passionately.

"What's going on?" Abigail asked feeling the tension in him.

"I've had a weird day." William stated with a sigh.

"Are you alright?" she asked.

"I should be," he answered, "I just wanted to make sure you were alright."

"I'm fine," she said, "should I be worried?"

"No, I don't think so," William said taking a deep breath, "we'll talk about it later." He added as he looked passed her and saw that the living room was filled with boxes. "How much work did you do?"

"I have a couple of friends in low place," Abigail smiled, "I made a few calls and before I knew it I had a moving company showing up at your place at noon."

"Is all my stuff here?" William asked looking around at the condo that had once been immaculate and was now cluttered with boxes piled from floor to ceiling and far too many pieces of furniture.

"Not all of it," Abigail confessed, "I knew I didn't have room for your bed."

"It's a piece of shit, we don't need it," William interrupted.

"You're sofa was hideous," Abigail added.

"Had it in college, don't need it anymore," William stated.

"And I left that god awful desk behind," Abigail smile.

"It wouldn't fit in here anyways," he smiled.

"Everything else is here, so we can spend the weekend unpacking," Abigail smiled, "I also did all your laundry, got groceries, and managed to swindle my land lord out of another parking space!" she added happily.

"Well aren't you the model of domestic bliss," William laughed the anxiety and confusion melting away. "Should I move my car out of the visitors parking?"

"Yes," Abigail laughed and handed him a parking slip and a set of keys.

William kissed her passionately again as he took the keys from her hands and moved back toward the door, "you hold that thought, and I'll be right back," he said breaking away from her and rushing out the door.

William found his parking spot and all his things in the back seat of the car, as well as the crumpled paper. He grabbed them all and made his way back up the empty stairwell. Abigail met him again at the apartment door with a glass of red wine, in a wine glass, and a pair of clean jeans.

"What's this?" he asked taking the jeans from her.

"More comfortable clothing," Abigail laughed, "we have a lot of unpacking to do tonight if we want to be able to sleep in my bed."

"The floor worked just fine for us a few nights ago," William winked as he took a sip of the wine.

"I'm not sleeping on the floor again," Abigail laughed.

"Here, read this while I change and tell me what you think," William stated placing the wad of crumpled paper in Abigail's hand and moving out of the doorway and into the kitchen where he dropped his pants and stepped into the jeans, while Abigail un-crumpled the paper and read it.

"I've seen this writing before," Abigail said.

"That's your first reaction?" William asked.

"Yeah, I know this Austen guy; he's been part informant part terrorist for most of my career." Abigail said unmoved by the paper.

"Why didn't you ever tell me about him?" William asked.

"You knew about him," Abigail stated, "he's the same informant we've always had."

"So you trust him?" William asked as he looked over the wine glass and deep into Abigail's eyes.

"I don't trust him as far as I could throw him, but I've learned not to go against him. If he says follow orders, you follow orders." Abigail stated.

"So what do you make of that?" he asked pointing at the letter again.

"He tells you to do as you are told and life will be good. He knows where we are, who we are, and probably more about 'us' than even we know. So if he doesn't threaten you, doesn't come to you face to face, then just file it among things to remember and forget it ever happened." Abigail said, "For now, you are home, we are happy and life is good, is it not?" she smiled.

"So that's it, you're just going to leave it at that? No investigation, no angry phone calls and no digging into the x-files?" William asked questioningly.

"That's it," Abigail said, "I don't want to do it anymore. I want to be happy. I'm finished screaming from mountaintops and never being heard. I'm tired of putting myself and those I love in danger for nothing but pride and problems. I'm ready to have the life you have always told me to find. There has to be more to life and I am going to find it, and no one, not Austen, or Syndicate or anyone for that matter is going to stop me."

"Really?" William asked. "Are you completely serious?"

"Yes," Abigail smiled, "I'm ready to feel like I've found something to come home to. I hope you feel the same way, doctor."

"The condo does look homier," William smiled.

"And are you not happy to be here?" Abigail questioned.

"I'd be happier if we were naked," William stated.

"Be patient!" Abigail laughed. "I made dinner."

"Ah, so you are ready to be the little house wife," William joked. "Did you by a book to read today and everything?"

"I did," Abigail laughed, "I'm finally taking your advice."

"No more sleeping in your car?" William asked.

"No more," Abigail stated.

"And what are you going to do without the X-files?"

"If you can make me enough money to continue this way of life that I have become comfortable with, then maybe," Abigail teased playfully, "I'll just stay home and have babies and play the piano."

"You don't have a piano," William laughed as he pulled her into his arms again.

"You can buy me one," Abigail cooed.

"I'd better open a private practice then," William stated.

"I might be good at secretarial work," Abigail stated contemplatively.

"No, we are not allowed to work together anymore, remember" William said as he danced her through the crowded living room, "you are my home; I need to be able to come home to you."

"I think we are finally on the right track," Abigail smiled.

"No more chasing monster?" William asked.

"Never again," Abigail whispered.

William smiled his eyes bright, his heart full and his mind set on the future. It was time now to begin where destiny had left off.


	41. Epilogue 2013

Chapter 41: Epilogue 2013

Scully paced the length of the veranda nervously as the summer sun blared down on her cozy little home. Mulder watched her for a moment, as she played with the gold band on her left hand, and he wondered what was going through her mind as he stood watching her through the window. He was content with his life and his wife. Mulder and Scully married each other in a quiet ceremony with only their family and friends, and returned to the life they had established for themselves. It had been one of the happiest days of their lives; to be together with the people that loved them the most and to know that their son and his fiancé were present in their lives, setting Dana and Fox in a completely different direction. Their new life started with the New Year, and now they were filled with an even greater anticipation.

Mulder smiled again to himself, before joining Scully and taking up his favorite place on the porch swing.

"Nice dress my little wife," he stated as he watched her walk up and down the length of the porch, "what's the occasion."

"You know the occasion," Scully stated glaring at him.

"It's more of an every day occasion, wouldn't you say, nothing to get dressed up about." Mulder laughed.

"It's just a sun dress," Scully stated stopping before him and looking down at what she had chosen to wear, "is it really too much?" she asked.

"No, it's pretty," Mulder smiled, "I like it. I never get to see you like this, Doctor. I mean, I don't think I can remember a time when I saw you wear something like that. It was always Scully the FBI agent or doctor Scully in her scrubs. I like Dana and her little sun dress." He added.

"I don't want to be a doctor today," Scully said as she sat down beside him and stared nervously down the drive way, "and I don't want to talk about aliens, mutations, medicine, autopsies, or the FBI in any way shape or form, and its more of a special occasion then you are letting on." she added looking at him now. "No talk of the Lone Gunmen, the Syndicate, or the X-files, you got it?" she stated.

"Can I talk about baseball?" he asked with a laughed.

"Baseball and the weather, I may allow the occasional comment on the future, but nothing as it would pertain to our past," Scully stated and jumped up from her seat as a car pulling into the driveway.

"I get it, you want normalcy!" Mulder laughed as he stood as well and walked to the stairs to greet their guest.

"Do you know what that drive is like with an infant?" Walter Skinner asked as he got out of the driver seat and William followed from the passenger side.

"We were beginning to wonder if something went wrong," Scully stated running down the steps to greet them.

"We did?" Mulder joked and caught the glare that Scully shot at him.

Abigail also exited the car from the back driver side as William reached into the back passenger side and started to unload the remaining contains of the vehicle.

"Alright, here you go," William said as he emerged from the vehicle, "meet your grandma, little lady." He smiled and handed the baby over to Scully.

"Oh my goodness," Scully gasped holding her granddaughter for the first time. "She has your nose, William," she added practically through tears.

"And her mothers set of lungs," Walter joked.

"Thank you dad," Abigail laughed as she joined Scully and the baby. "We're sorry it took us so long to get out here. Life has been pretty crazy and someone just did not want to sit still in her car seat!" Abigail cooed down at the baby.

"She screamed the whole way out here," Walter laughed.

"I'm surprised any of us have our hearing," William added.

"It's alright, dear, we know were out of the way," Scully said and cooed over the baby, "Mulder here, hold your grandchild," she smiled as he came toward her.

"I will remind you that I am too young to be a grandfather," Mulder said as he took the baby from Scully and stared down into the big blue eyes that looked back at him, "ok maybe not," he added as the baby smiled and reach out to him.

"Willow has a way with the men in her life," Abigail laughed as she and Scully watched the three men gather around the baby.

"She is going to be trouble when she grows up," Scully stated.

"Don't even get me started," William laughed, "I am already preparing myself for the day when she brings home her first boy friend. I'll kill him."

"I'll drive the get away vehicle," Walter added.

"I'll burry the body," Mulder chimed in as he rocked the little one in his arms. "No one is coming near you, ever, little one." He added as the little bundle squeaked and cooed in his arms.

"You've turned three men of the law into felons," Scully chimed as she joined Mulder and the men who looking over the little bundle.

"I thought you said no talk of the law," Mulder laughed.

"I don't condone this kind of talk," Scully stated, "Willow will be a smart little one that causes very little grief and spends all her parents, and grandparents' money."

"I'm hoping for Johns Hopkins," William stated proudly. "I want only the best for my little girl."

"And what if she wants to go into the FBI?" Mulder asked still holding tightly to the baby.

"Not a chance," Walter, Abigail, William and Scully all chimed together.

"We're out numbered," Mulder laughed as he addressed the baby, "no FBI for you, but maybe we can convince them to send you to Oxford, it's a really good school."

Willow cooed up at her grandfather, as Mulder and Scully welcomed the family into their home on the beautiful summer day in 2013.


End file.
